Ladakh region has received exciting news of a Rs 50,000 crore mega solar power project under a public-private partnership, being cleared by the Government.
Promoted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) the project aims to install facilities that will generate 7,500 MW of solar energy by 2023.
Ladakh has the highest intensity of solar radiation in India. Leh gets more than 320 clear sunny days in a year and the low climatic temperatures enable solar panels to work better.
Another factor is the abundance of surplus land that the government itself owns.
There are two major modules of the project.
This first module is a 2500 MW facility in the Suru area of Zanskar in Kargil district that will have transmission lines delivering electricity into the Kashmir Valley.
The second module of 5,000 MW in the Pang area of Leh district will have transmission lines routed via Manali in Himachal Pradesh towards Kaithal in Haryana.
That electricity would be further transmitted to the Delhi-NCR region.
Challenges-
- Construction of transmission lines
- Inaccessibility, particularly with regards to transporting heavy equipment
- Availability of skilled workforce locally
- Higher wind speeds as areas identified are generally vast and deserted.
- Water supply is a crucial aspect for both survival and maintenance perspectives.
- Power during construction will prove out to be expensive and scarce.
Despite these challenges, the scope for tapping into Ladakh’s vast potential for solar energy is massive. It would be the biggest contribution to the world in reversing climate change.
Reference- MNRE website, The Better India, Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency (LREDA) website