About 10 per cent of the energy needs of Raipur city would be met by non- conventional energy sources such as solar energy, as per the Smart City plan drawn up for the city by the Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC).
As per the plan, Raipur city would also have ‘intelligent’ street city lighting system.
This apart, the entire city would have underground power cabling. The city would also have a ‘smart grid’ system for power supply.
Notably, Raipur city has improved the quality of 'smart city' plans by 25 per cent to finally find its place in the list of 13 cities chosen by the Central government for development as a ‘smart city’.
It may be recalled that , Raipur which has been included among 100 other cities in the country for ‘Smart Cities’ Mission would be developed as ‘green city’.
It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Urban Development will be utilising the services of the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), a unit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to develop energy efficient cities.
Notably , the Central government last year had approved Raipur and Bilaspur to be developed as ‘Solar cities’ in Chhattisgarh.
So far, 55 existing cities in 27 States/UTs are being developed as solar cities in the country under ‘Development of Solar Cities Programme', senior government officials stated.
In fact, Raipur city was the only among nine other cities in the country which was chosen by the Centre among the ‘Pilot Solar Cities’ for implementation of its ambitious ‘Development of Solar Cities Programme’ in 2013-14,as per the 2013-14 annual report of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for 2013-14.
The other eight cities chosen for 'Pilot Solar Cities' programmes were-Rajkot, Faridabad, Shimla, Thane, Shirdi, Aizwal, Amritsar and Agartala.
As per the report, the development of the ‘Solar Cities Programme’ aims at minimum 10 per cent reduction in the projected demand of conventional energy at the end of five years, the report stated.
The aforesaid objectives are to be achieved through a combination of energy efficient measures and enhancing supply from renewable energy sources, it stated.
The Ministry assists the municipal corporations and the urban local bodies in preparation of a Master Plan for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy supply in the city, setting up institutional arrangements for the implementation of the Master Plan and the awareness generation and capacity building activities. The Centre had set the target of supporting 60 cities/towns for development as ‘solar/green cities’. Under the programme, during 2013-14, a total of 46 cities were sanctioned of which Master Plan of 39 cities were finalised.
The pilot project on the Grid Interactive rooftop small SPV power plant project was successfully implemented in ‘Chandigarh Model Solar City.’ This has demonstrated the feasibility of small grid connected SPV Rooftop in the country, it stated.
Notably, Chhattisgarh achieved total commissioned capacity of 10.28 MW as on June 11, 2015 for Grid Connected Solar Power Projects under various schemes, stated a document of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
During the period, the MNRE projects achieved capacity of 4 MW, the projects under Chhattisgarh State Policy ( 1.68 MW) and REC scheme projects ( 4.6 MW) in Chhattisgarh, it stated.
The Chhattisgarh government has targetted to install solar power plants with a total generation capacity of 1,700 MW during the coming months, Additional Chief Secretary, Energy Department, N Baijendra Kumarhad informed recently.
Chairing a review meeting at the headquarters of Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) here, Kumar had stated that it is targetted to establish solar power plants in all the government establishments across the State.
He said that as per the directives of Chief Minister Raman Singh, the schools and Anganwadis must have the solar power plants established on a priority basis.
Kumar also asked officials that they should motivate the house owners and farmers to make maximum use of solar energy to meet their power supply requirements.
He also stated that setting up solar power plants in remote settlements should be a priority.
Kumar said that many private sector companies have evinced interest in generating solar power in the State.