With investments of Rs 600 Crores in last one year, the solar power sector is showing signs of becoming a sunshine industry for the rural areas of Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) has given clearance to 208 projects based on solar power in last one year. These projects are now in different stages of completion and the department hopes they would be able to commission all of them by June 2020. A total power production of 148.85 MW is expected to be generated from these 208 units. Enthused by the positive response, the department has again invited new bids for setting up 52 MW units with an estimated capital of Rs 200 Crores.

The additional secretary, alternate energy, Captain (Retd),  Alok Shekhar Tiwari told The Pioneer that emphasis is being given to attract people to set up solar power plants in the rural areas of the state. He informed that for setting up a 100 Kilo Watt (KW) solar power plant, 5 Nali of land is required. A sum of Rs 40 lakh is required for setting up a 100 kw plant on 5 Nali of land. Tiwari said that the state government provides 30 percent subsidy to these plants under the Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) policy. For Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts, this subsidy is 40 percent.  Tiwari said that banks have been asked to finance these projects. He added that the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) would purchase the power produced by these enterprises at rates ranging from Rs 3.30 to Rs 4.71 per unit.

Incidentally, the Pirul policy of the state government has attracted 20 entrepreneurs for setting up power plants based on pine needles.

These 20 pine needles based power project of cumulative capacity 675 KW shall requires around 6075 MT of pine needles annually and the generated energy shall be injected into the grid.

The department hopes that projects based on these alternative sources of energy would provide an impetus for development of remote areas of the state.