Interestingly, to promote solar power generation in the State, the State Government said it was planning to introduce a similar policy on the lines of the national policy.The proposed Solar Mission is likely to be announced on November 14 and is expected to give a fillip to the emerging solar energy production in the State and across the country.

Making the inaugural address at the three-day Solarcon India 2009, organised by SEMI and ISA here on Monday, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said, ``The State would attract investments worth Rs 3,000 crore in the first phase of Solar City, a firstof- its-kind cluster for solar farms coming up in 10,000 acre at Kadiri in

Anatapur district.’’ Four companies _ Sunborne, AES Solar, Lanco Solar and Titan Energy _ have signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Government on Monday to set up facilities in Phase-I at Solar City.

It has also signed an MoU with Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute of Germany, a global research and development institute in solar energy sector, to collaborate on new technologies, testing and certification, training programmes on solar energy.

Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the session, B V Naidu, chairman of ISA said, ``The Union Government will provide incentives to 12 players, including two foreign players, to set up operations, while half of them will be based in AP.’’

The Union Government is anticipating total investments of $32 billion from these companies over the next four to five years.

Andhra Pradesh is in the forefront of solar energy production and has created a dedicated cluster for semiconductor and solar photvoltaic (PV) manufacturing. However, the costs of solar energy production are steep and efforts should be made to reduce costs and increase efficiency of PV modules and cells, he added.