The Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) has launched the ‘Saur Mitra Akshay Urja’ Shop Scheme, under which retail outlets of solar energy based appliances will be opened in rural pockets of the State so as to establish a marketing network , officials stated.A total of 10 such shops will be opened in each district, where Solar lights, fans, TV etc will be available for sale.Officials informed that in these shops, appliances like solar home lights, solar street lights, solar TV, solar fans, solar panels, lED bulb, solar task light, solar study lamp, solar lantern etc. will be sold with five year guarantee. They stated that only CREDA approved appliances will be kept in these shops.
Candidates interested in opening shops will have to take approval from CREDA and deposit demand draft of Rs 10,000 for registration at District Headquarters of CREDA offices. Notably, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has also set a target of 104 Megawatt peak (MWp) for power generation from roof-top solar plants in Chhattisgarh by 2018-19.Notably, people in Chhattisgarh can now install their own environment friendly and cost effective solar power plants on the roof of their houses to meet their power supply needs.
Banks would provide loan for the solar power plants which once installed will provide free electricity for a lifetime, officials said.They said that the Central government has set a target of establishing solar power plants to the capacity of 40,000 MW on roof-tops of residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial units and other buildings across the country.These solar power units will range from 1 KW to 500 KW capacity. People can contribute in protection of the environment by installing solar power plants.
The officials said that the Union Finance Ministry has written to the chairpersons of all the banks of the country to provide loan to the people for establishing solar power plants along with home loan.CREDA is providing free technical guidance to the people in this regard. CREDA officials stated that solar power panels of lower capacity 5W can also be provided to the people according to their need.Each panel of 500W capacity will cost Rs 50,000. Similarly the cost of panel of 1 KW will be Rs 1 lakh. The expenditure will be one-time and these panels will produce free electricity for a lifetime.
Chhattisgarh also achieved a total commissioned capacity of 7.1000 MW from grid connected solar PV power projects as on March 31, 2014, according to the 2013-14 annual report of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.The total commissioned capacity of such Solar PV power projects was 4.000 MW as on March 31, 2013 in Chhattisgarh, it stated.The grid connected power projects were commissioned under Phase-I of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) . A total of 11 projects of 50.5 MW capacity under the ‘migration scheme’ and 26 projects of 140 MW capacity under Batch-I were commissioned during the year across the country.
The JNNSM is a key initiative of the Union government and the State Governments to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenges. The Mission is one of the several initiatives that were part of National Action Plan on Climate Change, it stated.The JNNSM was launched on January 11, 2010 and the Mission targets included- deployment of 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022, 2000 MW of off-grid solar applications including 20 million solar lights by 2022, 20 million square metre of solar thermal collector area besides creating favourable conditions for developing solar manufacturing capability in the country and to support R&D and capacity building activities to achieve grid parity by 2022.
The Mission is to be completed in three phases, the report stated.For the first phase of the Mission, the Union Cabinet last year approved a target to set up 1,100 MW grid connected solar plants including 100 MW capacity plants as rooftop and other small solar power plants till March 2013.In addition, a target of 200 MW capacity equivalent of off-grid solar applications and 7 million square metre solar thermal collector area were also approved.
