Budget 2016 – Solar Projects may enjoy incentives

The Narendra Modi government is currently working on a host of incentives for the Solar energy sector. This is mainly for solar power plants with generation capacity of 3,000 MW or more. The final announcement is expected on Budget day, that’s February 29.

An inter-ministerial committee headed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary has finalized this report and submitted it to the Prime Minister's Office. The committee has proposed both fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to push mega solar power projects across the country.

The proposal includes several suggestions for the government. This includes power purchase agreement, grid connection, land to put solar panels and manufacturing of equipment.

The ministries of New and Renewable Energy, Power, Finance, and Commerce and Industry among others are involved in the process.

The Modi government has set an ambitious target to raise the solar power generation capacity by five times to 1,00,000 MW by 2022. If India achieves this target it will become one of the largest producers of renewable energy, bypassing several developed countries.

It’s now a matter of two weeks that we get to know how serious the government is about its green energy commitments.