(Image source from: livemint.com)

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has launched a solar power plant on Friday with the aim to stop reliance on imports from neighbors, especially China.

On Friday over a virtual meeting, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi launched the solar power plant in the small town of Madhya Pradesh called Rewa. This is one step more in India being self-reliant as most of India’s solar power energy is being imported from China. This project of 750 mega Watts is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 million tons each year. Carbon di oxide emission need to go down as it leads to global warming, and we all know how much climate change has happened because of global warming I the past decades.

India has recently announced the idea of going self-reliant and this has procured from Narendra Modi’s Made in India flagship as the country is looking to make India self-reliant by increasing domestic manufacturing and it has also been decided that government departments and institutions will only buy domestically manufactured solar cells and modules. China is the biggest exporter to India in the solar equipment’s and India wants to change that.

The boycott China movement has been going on in full stream on social media and all over the internet where people are getting and creating awareness of the way China has been doing business and how it is trying to map the entire world with its control and businesses. China and USA have already been in a trade war since 2018 and now there is a trade war going on between India and China as well.

This trade war began after the border clash between the two nations when the Chinese PLA troops did not keep their word of de-escalation at the eastern Ladakh border and started a violent attack with the India army in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred. Thus began the ongoing tension and the boycott China and Made in China products in the country. Indians in the country and around the world started this movement and also held protests. India government also subtly cancelled all government contracts with Chinese firms and in a big step last week banned 59 of China based apps mentioning the terms of security and national threat.

The virtual launch which was to speak about the solar power plant in Rewa also highlighted Prime Minister mentioning that Indi’s progress in the field of solar energy will garner international interest.

As of now China is the biggest exporter of power and after India’s initiative to become a major solar power exporter, International interest in India will be increased and thus a good step for the economy of the country.

India had announced a initiative of 175 gig watts of renewable energy by the year 2020 and this projects will take India closer to its goal.

This 750 Megawatt solar power plant is Spread over 1,590 acres.The Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd (RUMSL) is a joint venture of state-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India Ltd (SECI) and Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (MPUVNL).

This plant definitely adds momentum to India’s commitment of increasing renewable energy capacities by 2022. Clean energy projects now account for more than a fifth of India’s installed power generation capacity. India has around 34.6 gigawatt (GW) of solar power and aims to have nearly 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022.

The Rewa solar power plant Project has been acknowledged in India and abroad for its robust project structuring and innovations. Its payment security mechanism for reducing risks to power developers has been recommended as a model to other states by MNRE. Around 60% of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC) is running on electricity supplied from the park and its success, the model has been replicated at the solar parks of Shajapur (500 MW), Agar (550 MW) and Neemuch (450 MW) in Madhya Pradesh.

750-megawatt power plant in the central state of Madhya Pradesh is being dubbed as the largest in Asia by local media and that is not true. The largest solar power plant is in the state of Karnataka with 2000 Mega Watts of power.  2000 MW Pavagada Mega Solar Parkwas developed by the Karnataka Solar Park Development Corporation Limited (KSPDCL) in a joint venture between the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the Karnataka Renewable Energy (KREDL).

This is not just Asia’s but the world’s largest solar park. Pavagada mega solar park in Karnataka is now operational and is generating 2050MW of clean energy, the park is located on land leased from farmers, utilizing the drought-hit area & adding to farmers’ income

By Deepika Agarwal