Team Herald
PANJIM: Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar on Tuesday said that the Solar Power Policy will be notified at the next cabinet meeting. Madkaikar said that the delay in notifying the policy was due to addition of suggestions.
Speaking to Herald, Madkaikar said, “There was a delay in notifying the policy as there were some suggestions which needed to be incorporated before it’s notified to make it a comprehensive policy. If the policy was notified then it would be difficult to incorporate them. It is always better when all the points are included before notification.”
He added, “The policy will be put before the cabinet meeting next week, as there has been no intimation for a meeting tomorrow. There are many firms that have shown interest in setting up plants to generate solar power.”
Madkakar said that as soon as the policy is approved in the Cabinet next week and notified, a tender will be floated.
The draft policy was approved by the cabinet in July this year and kept open for suggestions and objections.
As per the draft available on the GEDA website, the State government aims to provide 150 MW of solar power to the grid by 2022. Since Goa is eco-sensitive, thermal energy generation is not possible and so has to entirely depend on thermal energy from other states, says the draft.
“To attain self-reliance in power generation and to promote clean source of power generation, the solar policy is being adopted. This would result in reduction of carbon emissions,” the draft policy states.
The draft further states, “Goa is richly endowed with moderate climate and bright sunshine for almost 8-9 months in a year for generating solar power.”
