National solar mission guidelines

The National Action Plan on Climate Change announced by the government of India in June 2008 identified development of solar energy as a national mission. Subsequently, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was approved by the government to promote solar power. As part of this mission on 25 July the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued guidelines for the selection of new grid-connected solar power projects. These guidelines replace draft guidelines issued in March.

The solar mission has set a target of developing 20,000 MW in three phases from 2010 to 2022. The guidelines set out the mechanism and policy framework for the selection and development of new projects under phase I of the solar mission.

Capacity allocation

In response to the guidelines, under phase I of the mission 500 MW of capacity will be developed using solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and solar thermal technology. Capacity for solar PV projects will be allocated in two batches under phase I. In the first batch, (financial year 2010-11), total capacity to be allocated will be limited to 150 MW. In the second batch (financial year 2011-12), the remaining 350 MW of capacity minus capacity allocated to projects migrating to the solar mission from various state policies will be allocated to project developers. For solar thermal projects, the entire capacity of 500 MW (minus projects migrating from various state policies) will be allocated in the financial year 2010-11.

Akshay Jaitly is a partner in the Delhi office of Trilegal where Aniket Prasoon is an associate. Trilegal is a full-service law firm with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The firm has over 120 lawyers, some of whom have experience with law firms in the US, the UK and Japan.