The ambitious project of developing Chandigarh as a ‘model solar city’ finally kicked off formally on Tuesday after a delay of five years.
Though the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had chosen Chandigarh in the year 2008 for developing it into a solar city, the project failed to gain momentum in the past five years. The ambitious project was formally launched by Union Minister MNRE Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday who inaugurated two SPV power plants here.
The Minister first inaugurated 50 KWp grid interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant at Paryavaran Bhawan Sector 19 B. The cost of the power plant is Rs 90.40 lakh (50 per cent contribution from MNRE) and it will generate 65,000 units of electricity per year.
Another, 100 KWp Grid interactive rooftop based SPV power plant at Model Jail, Burail was also inaugurated. The cost of the power plant is Rs 143 lakh (50per cent contribution from MNRE, Govt. of India) and it will be able to generate 1,30,000 units of electricity per year. With this, Model Jail Chandigarh has become the first jail of the country having grid interactive Solar Power plant on its rooftop.
On the occasion, Farooq Abdullah said that the model Solar City concept would be successful only when we are able to attract the private people to install SPV power plant on their rooftops for which he stressed the need for wider publicity. He said that MNRE is taking a lot of efforts under National Solar Mission for use of more and more solar energy for day-to-day needs. Regarding the delay in developing city as model solar city, Abdullah said, “Though MNRE had chosen Chandigarh in 2008, the actual work under solar city programme started in the year 2010 and since then, a lot of work has been carried out in this regard.” Earlier, Abdullah met Punjab Governor and UT administrator Shivraj Patil in Punjab Raj Bhawan and discussed various issues concerning solar city projects.
The SPV power plant projects are being executed by CREST (Chandigarh Renewal Energy, Science & Technology Promotion Society) and at present 1860 KWp Solar Photovoltaic Systems at 12 different Government buildings are under installation stage and likely to be completed within 2-3 months.
UT Administration urges Union Minister The UT administration on Wednesday urged Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah to provide grid connectivity guidelines to the Union Territory of Chandigarh as all their solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants installed here are grid interactive. And, the guidelines would make SPV power plant grid connectivity easy.
On this, the Minister has said that the guidelines would be finalised in three-four months and would be provided to the UT Chandigarh.City gets nothing from Minister’s visitApart from formal inauguration of project of developing Chandigarh as a ‘model solar city,’ Chandigarh got nothing from the visit of Union Minister. Though the UT senior officials were expecting some major announcements from the Union Minister, the visit remained disappointing for Chandigarh.
UT fails to achieve targets under solar city project The UT administration has failed to implement projects timely under the ‘solar city project’. So far, only three SPV power plants on Government buildings have been made functional from the target of over 10 Government buildings.
Punjab demands increase in subsidy on solar water pumps
Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday urged the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to enhance the subsidy on solar water pumps from 30 per cent to 80 per cent.
In a meeting with the Union Minister of MNRE Farooq Abdullah, Badal said that Centre had been providing 80 per cent subsidy of the benchmark price for solar water pumps as central financial assistance till 2004 but thereafter reduced it to 30 per cent. In a bid to tap maximum irrigation potential through non-conventional sources of energy for irrigation purposes in the state especially in the horticulture sector, Badal urged the Union Minister to restore the earlier subsidy available to the farmers.
In addition to this, the Chief Minister also asked Abdullah to introduce Invertors and Battery backup system in the existing scheme of solar water pumps to enable the farmers to utilise their existing AC motor setup instead of purchasing new DC motors, which was not financially viable for them.
Regarding the State’s share of Rs 285 crore for the development of non-conventional energy as per the 13th Finance Commission recommendations, Badal asked the Union Minister to get the process expedited for early release of the funds.
Abdullah assured Badal that he would soon take up all these issues with the Prime Minister personally for early solution, especially of subsidy enhancement for solar water pumps. He also advised Badal to personally write to the Prime Minister conveying his view point in this regard.