India is getting ready for a solar thermal energy project at Nagpur in western state Maharashtra.

The Minister for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar reportedly said that Asia's biggest solar thermal energy plant of 10 MW capacity would be set up at Nagpur.

The Minister said a special economic zone was also being established in which equipment and appliances related to wind, solar and biogas energy would be manufactured. The development was reported by leading financial daily, The Economic Times. 

"Private company Acme is going to set up Asia's biggest thermal energy generation plant at Nagpur a SEZ will also be set up there," reportedly said Muttemwar.

As per the information available with CSPToday.com, for its part, the Ministry is trying to make solar power affordable through incentivising its generation and research and development activities.

The Ministry has also pointed out that the Government's move to offer fiscal incentives to solar cell and photovoltaic manufacturers coupled with surge in global demand for renewable energy resources has triggered domestic and multi-national companies to set up shop in India.

The Ministry has launched three new schemes namely Demonstration programme on megawatt size grid interactive solar power generation, Development of solar cities and Energy recovery from municipal and urban waste. The target for Demonstration programme on megawatt size grid interactive solar power generation is 50 MW during XIth Plan Period where each MW of solar power is likely to generate 25 to 40 direct jobs and upto 400 indirect jobs.