30,000 MW solar projects may be built on Indian waste land

The Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission announced that 30,000 MW solar thermal power projects could be set up in 10% of wasteland in the state were to be made available for solar power installation.

The Indian state of Orissa has a total of 8,368.69 sq. km. of potential wasteland available for setting up such solar projects. 

In order to estimate the approximate solar power potential in the state, the most feasible area receiving greater insolation and relatively flat terrain has been separated out from the total waste land in the state.

The solar energy that India receives can be converted to 600 GW of power annually, far more than the country`s total energy consumption today. However, the country produces an extremely negligible amount of solar power i.e. a mere 0.2 percent compared to other energy resources.