Expressing confidence in achieving the target of 18,000 MW by 2017-end, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal has said that the installed solar power capacity in India has crossed the milestone of 5,000 MW in January this year. Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy at its meeting held in Tirupati, Andra Pradesh reviewed the progress of implementation of solar park scheme and steps taken by the NTPC to reduce emissions and increase efficiency.
Goyal further said that the government has initiated world’s largest renewable energy programme by increasing by increasing the existing 35,000 MW by five-fold to 175 GW to be achieved by 2022. Besides, the government has launched several projects like Scheme for Development of Solar Parks which is envisaged to achieve 20 GW through ultra-mega solar parks. The total number of approved solar parks has risen to 33 in 21 states with an aggregate capacity of 19,900 MW as against 25 solar parks planned.
The meeting chaired by Minister Piyush Goyal was attended by members of Lok Sabha Bharat Singh, Om Prakash Yadav, Sushil Kishore Singh, Jayadev Galla and member of the Rajya Sabha Bashistha Narain Singh. MNRE Secretary Upendra Tripathy, Power Secretary P K Pujari among others also attended the meeting.