Land Charges in Solar Parks in India
Solar parks were designed to reduce the bottlenecks and bring down the cost of large- scale solar development. Developers pay for multiple heads of land development charges like land application fees (non-refundable one time), upfront development fee, annual leases of land, annual operation and maintenance charge, stamp duties for registration and service taxes on all component differently in each state Even though solar parks have played a role in bringing the tariff to low levels, incomplete solar park infrastructure, high upfront fees and uncertain yearly charges are adding to the difficulties of the developer and raising project costs. Presence of uniform charges across the country shall be beneficial for the developers.
| S.No. | Solar Park | State | Charges |
| 1 | Ghani Solar Park | Andhra Pradesh | High development charges of INR 42 lakh per MW. Additional recurring charges for O&M, land lease, water supply charges. A service charge of 15% on all fees. |
| 2 | Kadapa Solar Park | Andhra Pradesh | One time development cost of INR 41.2 lakh per MW. Annual O&M charges at the rate of INR 3.2 lakh for the first year which escalates annually at the rate of six per cent thereafter. Water at the rate of INR 10 per kilo-litre fixed. Annual land lease of INR 1,000 per acre |
| 3 | Charanka Solar Park | Gujarat | Solar park fees are constantly increasing: from INR 40 lakh to INR 1 crore per MW. |
| 4 | Rewa Solar Park | Madhya Pradesh | No upfront park fee, the land lease and internal evacuation infrastructure was built with the world bank loan. Overall the charges are comprehensive and straightforward to the developer. |
| 5 | Pavagada Solar Park | Karnataka | Presence of upfront fee, recurring O&M charges and land lease with an annual escalation rate of five per cent. |