The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India organised a regional review meeting with Northern States consisting of Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, J&K, Himachal at Chandigarh recently.
The regional review meeting was held to review the progress of implementation of renewable energy projects and programmes in these northern States.
The meeting was organised and hosted by Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA). Secretary, MNRE, Ratan P Watal, Chaired the meeting which was attended by Joint Secretary, MNRE, Tarun Kapoor and senior officers, advisors and Directors from MNRE, along with Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of Departments of New & Renewable Energy of various State Government and Directors, senior officers of state nodal agencies.
The State nodal agency of Punjab, PEDA made a presentation of its various programmes and achievements in the Solar, Biomass, co-generation and mini hydro sectors and informed about the new initiatives being taken. Competitive bidding of 300 MW Biomass power projects is on the anvil. A total capacity of 560 MW renewable energy power projects are in operation and total capacity addition of 2,550 MW is being targeted at by 2,022 under the NRSE Policy-2012, under which the Punjab government has provided a slew of incentives for encouraging investment in this sector.
Other States of Haryana, Chandigarh, J&K, Himachal and Uttarakhand gave their presentations with regard to potential of renewable energy.