A 20 mega-watt (MW) Vankal Solar Park was inaugurated in Mizoram on Tuesday. The park, which is the first of its kind in the north-eastern states, was developed at a cost of Rs 2,107 crore — Rs 1,707 crore from the state and Rs 400 crore from the Centre.

20 MW Vankal Solar Park, 1st Solar Park in North-Eastern States approved under the @mnreIndia's Solar Park Scheme, has been inaugurated by Honourable Minister Sh. R Lalzirliana, Govt. Of Mizoram on 25 April 2023.@MizoramGovernor @CMOMizoram @dipr_mizoram@OfficeOfRKSingh pic.twitter.com/mcnLhGwNwr

— Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) (@mnreindia) April 25, 2023

It was approved under the solar park scheme of the ministry of new and renewable resources and was inaugurated by the state's minister of power and electricity R Lalzirliana on Tuesday. The Mizoram government will be able to purchase power generated from the plant at Rs 3.94/unit.

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The Centre had launched the scheme for developing solar parks and ultra mega solar power projects in 2014 to help developers set up the solar projects expeditiously.

The government scheme was rolled out in order to address all these challenges.

A solar park is a large area of land that is developed with statutory clearances and has common infrastructure such as road, water, transmission infrastructure, communication network, drainage, etc, allowing project developers to set up their solar projects without any hassles.

In December last year, the power and new and renewable energy minister RK Singh informed the Rajya Sabha that as of November 30, 2022, a total of 57 solar parks of 39,285 MW capacity had been sanctioned. The Centre said that solar power projects of 10,027 MW had been commissioned in the parks, while a few had also been cancelled as their progress was slow.

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