Ravi Pradhan is a NRI who studied engineering in the city and migrated to the US decades ago. He has worked for top American companies, specifically those dealing with solar power. Last year, he announced plans to start a solar photo voltaic plant of 10 MW in Nagpur district under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNMS) of the Union government. His dream soured last month when big players and powerful industrialists cornered allotments in the phase I through competitive bidding. Now, he is waiting for the Maharashtra government to come out with its own plans complementing the JNNMS.
The objective of the Mission is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by creating policy conditions for its diffusion across the country as quickly as possible. The Mission has set a target of 20,000 MW and stipulates implementation and achievement of the target in three phases (first phase up to 2012-13, second phase from 2013 to 2017 and the third phase from 2017 to 2022) for various components, including grid connected solar power. It has asked the states also to frame a similar policy to harness the sun energy which is the most abundant alternative source and is seen as future power.
In order to facilitate grid connected solar power generation in the first phase, a mechanism of "bundling" relatively expensive solar power with power from the unallocated quota of the government of India generated at NTPC coal-based stations, which is relatively cheaper, has been proposed by the Mission. This "bundled power" would be sold to the distribution utilities at the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) determined prices. As part of this, of the total target of 500 MW in Phase I, around 300 MW was allotted to existing units and only a few new players were allowed entry though the response to the scheme was overwhelming.
"Apparently big fish leveraging cheap funds from foreign banks have muscled into the scheme, leaving no scope for technocrats turned entrepreneurs like Pradhan," lamented Prakash Kulkarni, project director of Pradhan Energy Projects Pvt Ltd (PEPPL). "There is possibility of the scheme being used by big players to convert their black money into white as they have bid for as low as Rs 11 -12 a unit for the solar power against the initial rate of Rs 17-18 agreed to by the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam which is the nodal agency for the Mission.
"PEPL has already identified land near Katol and is all ready to go ahead with its plan. Now we are pinning hopes on state government's policy which is likely to be out in April-May. We are expecting that like in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh which have already announced plans and offered around Rs 15 a unit, the state will also encourage new and small players instead of going out the of way to pander to the big ones who only want to get allotments. Some of them in the Mission scheme have already transferred their allotment to others to earn a quick buck," said Kulkarni. "The Mission's purpose has been defeated as it unexpectedly turned commercial, abandoning the ideal to promote an alternative energy source," he added.
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