Bhubaneswar: The State Government has installed rooftop solar plants over 2544 public buildings across the state of total capacity of 32.21 MW, an official data said.
According to the data, the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) has installed rooftop solar plants on 2479 government buildings like police stations, universities, collector offices, schools, colleges, block offices and hospitals across the state.
Similarly, Green Energy Development Corporation Of Odisha Ltd (GEDCOL) has installed solar plants on the rooftops of 65 public buildings in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar generating renewable energy of 4 mega watt.
The state is also generating renewable energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Captive Power Plants (CPPs). In total, renewable energy of 2827.41 MW has been generated from various sources across the state during the financial year 2023-24, officials said.
Apart from the above installed projects, the Single Window Committee (SWC) of Energy Department has so far approved 23 RE projects, which will generate 374.24 MW of green energy with an investment of Rs 2151.42 crore in the State.
Among major projects, MGM Green Energy Ltd has proposed to install a 5MW/6.5 MW ground-mounted solar with an investment of Rs 27.26 crore.
Similarly, MCL has promised to set up a 50 MW Ground mounted project at Balangir with an investment of Rs 297.61 crore while OPGC will set up a 50 MW Solar Ground mounted project at a cost of Rs 215 crore, and AMP Energy C&I Three Limited will set up 40 MW Ground mounted Solar at Balangir at a cost of Rs 277 crore.
The State Energy Department has also received proposals from three private companies for establishment of Solar Parks in Bolangir, Sonepur and Sambalpur districts.
Pushne Urja, Prozeal Green and Tesseract4 Power have proposed to set up 40 MW, 69.5 MW and 50 MW solar parks in Bolangir, Sonepur and Sambalpur districts, respectively.
The Energy Department has so far accorded in-principle approval for investment proposals worth Rs 9,781.47 crore with a total capacity of 1,441.79 MW in the RE sector.
These projects will leverage Odisha’s natural potential for renewable energy generation, emphasizing the state’s commitment to achieving its renewable energy goals under the Odisha Renewable Energy Policy-2022, the officials said.
As per a study report of International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), Odisha has the potential and resources to generate more than 200 gigawatt (GW) solar energy from different fields including 138 GW from ground mounted and 33.5 GW from floating resources.