The Minister in charge of New & Renewable Energy and Power has communicated that the "Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects" initiative has received approval for a budget allocation of Rs. 8,100 Crores.

The scheme's duration has been extended until the fiscal year 2025-26, and this extension does not carry any additional financial burden. Therefore, no extra funds have been set aside for the scheme's continuation.

According to the Minister, the Government has given the green light to 50 Solar Parks, totalling a capacity of 37,990 MW, spread across 12 States in the country. Among these approved parks, 11 with a cumulative capacity of 8,521 MW have been successfully completed, and 7 others with a combined capacity of 3,985 MW are in various stages of completion. Within these parks, solar projects generating a total capacity of 10,237 MW have been established.

Furthermore, the Minister shared that the electricity generation capacity of the solar projects within the Solar Parks has seen a growth of 2,292 MW over the past three years, including the current year.

The land acquisition efforts for Solar Parks have resulted in approximately 69,000 hectares being secured so far. It's important to note that the responsibility for providing land for these Solar Parks lies with the respective State/Union Territory Governments. The Solar Park scheme places emphasis on utilizing waste or non-agricultural land for the development of these projects.

These details were provided by the Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy and Power, Shri R. K. Singh, in a written response to two queries presented in the Rajya Sabha on August 8, 2023.