Dwarka: After Modhera, the temple town of Dwarka may become the second solar-powered town of Gujarat if a plan by PGVCL goes well. The discom has started assessing how many units from solar power can be generated in the town.
Modhera, which is famous for Sun temple, had been declared the country’s first 24×7 solar-powered village in October 2022. Dwarka is a major tourist attraction in the state and after Shivrajpur beach near it received the Blue Flag certification, the tourist flow to the temple town has been increasing. There are at least 200 hotels and dharmashalas that provide accommodation to the tourists coming to the town.
According to PGVCL, Dwarka town’s yearly consumption of electricity is 20 million units and if the town can generate this much of solar power, it would be declared as a solar-powered town. PGVCL wants all the consumers — residential, commercial, hotels and dharmashala — to generate solar power.
Officials have held several rounds of meetings with various category of consumers to persuade them to generate solar power. For residential consumers, there is a ‘Surya Gujarat’ scheme under which they get a subsidy. The government buildings will be covered by GEDA.
PGVCL chief engineer of R J Vala said, “We are working on an affordable model of solar power for the hotels and dharmashala. They have to first make a substantial investment to create infrastructure for solar power generation. If they take loans, it is possible for them to get interest subsidy from the tourism department or Yatradham board or under any other government scheme.”
Approximate cost for generation of 1KW power is around Rs 45,000.
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