Madhya Pradesh’s Energy Minister has announced that the state will house world’s largest 750 Mega Watts(MW) solar power station in Rewa district. Global tenders will be invited shortly for commissioning the solar power station in an area over 1,500 hectares. The project – Rewa Ultra Mega Solar – is a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and MP Urja Vikas Nigam, where in both parties have 50 per cent stake.
As per the plan, the plant should start generating solar energy by March 2017. At present, world’s largest solar power project – Ivanpah Solar Power Facility of 392 MW – is at Mojave deserts in California, United States. Welspun’s solar power project in Neemuch had come up at a cost of around Rs 1,100 crore on 305 hectares of land.
Advantages of Solar Energy
- Solar energy is an alternative for fossil fuels as it is non-polluting, clean, reliable and renewable source of energy.
- Solar energy can be used in remote areas where it is too expensive to extend the electricity power grid.
- Solar cells generally doesn’t require much maintenance and run for a long time.
- Solar energy provides cost effective solutions to energy problems where there is no electricity at all.
- It is estimated that the worlds oil reserves will last for 30 to 40 years. On the other hand, solar energy is infinite (forever).
Disadvantages of Solar Energy
- Solar energy can only be harnessed when it is daytime and sunny.
- In countries such as the UK, the unreliable climate means that solar energy is also unreliable as a source of energy. Cloudy skies reduce its effectiveness.
- Solar collectors, panels and cells are relatively expensive to manufacture.
