text size: T T

12 applicants to invest Rs 76,500 crore over 10 years.

New Delhi, July 13 Solar Photo Voltaic (PV) projects in the country have taken another step forward. The Department of Information Technology has asked the 12 applicants who recently received in-principle nod for PV projects filed under special incentive package scheme (SIPS) to complete their financial closure by August 31. “They will come back with the financial close and the financial details as approved by various financing partners and the application would then be placed before the Appraisal Committee,” Mr R. Chandrasekar, Secretary, DIT, told Business Line. On whether the applicants would be able to meet the deadline given the global liquidity crunch, the DIT Secretary said, “Most of these companies have indicated their optimism in reaching the financial closure in the given timeframe. We will monitor the situation.” The Appraisal Committee will recommend whether the Government can approve financial support to a particular project. The release of funds under the SIPS will happen once the companies have incurred threshold expenditure on projects (Rs 2,500 crore for fab units, and Rs 1,000 crore for eco-system units including PV). Last month, the Government accorded in-principle clearance to 12 PV applicants including Titan Energy Systems, Reliance Industries, Tata BP Solar Power, and PV Technologies India (a subsidiary of Moser Baer). Together these projects involve an investment of Rs 76,500 crore over a 10-year period. The initial nod implied that prima facie these proposals have met the basic technical criteria as laid down under SIPS. Project Conditions The issuance of the in-principle letter is based on three conditions. The project parameters should be clearly visible with a proper report detailing the product line and technology. This is critical for determining whether the project falls within the technical parameters of the scheme or not. Second, the applicant and the investor should be clearly identifiable; and, third, the applicant must have identified the location for the project and taken steps to acquire or take possession of the land. Other PV projects that have been given the technical green signal are KSK Surya PV Ventures; Signet Solar, Indo-Solar Ltd (formerly Phoenix Solar India); Solar Semiconductors, TF SolarPower, Lanco Solar Pvt Ltd, EPV Solar and Bhaskar Silicon. In all, the Government has received 17 proposals worth Rs 1,57,000 crore under the SIPS. Under the programme, the Centre will provide incentive of 20 per cent capital expenditure during the first 10 years for the units in Special Economic Zones and 25 per cent of the capital expenditure in non-SEZ units.