Amritsar: To cut down the reliance on costly conventional power and promote solar energy in the state, the Punjab government has kicked off the phase-I of the project aimed at developing Amritsar as a solar city.
Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) director M P Singh shared that the solar rooftops of cumulative capacity of 2.33 mega watts (MW) will be installed on 190 government buildings, which have been identified after a comprehensive survey conducted with the help of drones. In phase-I of the project, rooftop solar systems will be installed in 74 buildings, the bidding process for which has been initiated.
Punjab’s new and renewable energy sources department launched the decision support tool (DST) along with the Amritsar Smart City Portal, and Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO) portal for Punjab. Besides, state energy action plan was also launched to ensure promotion of energy efficiency in sectors like building, industry, municipalities, agriculture and transport. The energy action plan is aimed at assisting the state departments in adopting the most sustainable, long-term and inter-sectoral renewable energy plan.
Additional chief secretary of the renewable energy sources department, A Venu Prasad said that the state energy action plan will help achieve the goals towards net zero emissions in different sectors.
Emphasising on the need of fast-tracking implementation of the action plan and review the progress quarterly, he asked all the departments to come forward to equip their office buildings with solar panels to decarbonise the power sector, which will help in reducing their power consumption charges by 25% to 30%.
PEDA has also signed a memorandum of understanding with GIZ, an international enterprise owned by the German government, for the implementation of IGEN Access to Energy programme funded by the German ministry of economic cooperation and development.
