Gujarat: Solar power project on CRZ in Dholera

The Gujarat government will establish a 5,000MW solar park at Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) over 11,000 hectare (110 sq km) land and the same land falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).

As per rule, no activity, except for exploration of gas and extraction of salt, could be done in CRZ. The government has, however, received special permission to establish the solar power project in the area falling under SIR.

The principal secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Manoj Das, said, "We did not want that single inch of SIR to be wasted, and we wanted full utilisation of 900 square km area. This 110-square-km area falls under CRZ and no activity could be run there to maintain the ecosystem of the coastal area. We received special permission from central government's ministry of environment and forest as the solar power plant does not harm the ecology. This will not only optimise the utilisation of land but will also raise a great source of green energy that will be required by a smart city to take shape in near future."

The government has also done the environmental survey of this region and as per that, no any wildlife or vegetation in this zone is going to be disturbed by the establish ment of solar power panels in the region. Meanwhile, the government also found that the area is very safe on the side of natural calamities too. As the SIR is located in the land mass that is of inverted V shape in Gulf of Khambhat, calamities like Tsunami or other cyclonic systems cannot affect with great intensity to this region.

"We have done the deep research of environmental and atmospheric issues of this place and the plus point of this place is, the Dholera SIR may not be affected by the calamity like Tsunami. This is because the shape of topography and wind circulations in this area. This place falls in the Gulf of Khambhat and that will be the benefit of the solar power plant as it will not be damaged," Das added.

The state government has estimated that the construction of this massive solar park will attract an investment of Rs 25,000 crore and generate employment for over 20,000 people.

The government has also prepared the formula to invite multiple bidders.

Know the rules

The government has changed the rule for investment or bidding for Solar Park. As per the new rule, in place of a single bid for solar park having a capacity of 5000MW power generation, multiple parties can bid for investment for the plants having power generation capacity in fractions of 5000MW.