The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : State to unveil renewable energy policy soon

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Friday, Sep 05, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

State to unveil renewable energy policy soon

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

High aims: (From left) Ajit K. Gupta, Adviser, MNRE; Deepak Gupta, Secretary, MNRE; and K. Jairaj, Principal Secretary (Energy), at an interactive meet in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: Karnataka will unveil a renewable energy policy in a month or two to provide for a focussed effort to boost the renewable energy generation to tide over the power shortage by harnessing green energy.

The highlight of the policy is that it will envisage steps for doubling the renewable energy generation in the State from the present 2,000 MW to 4,000 MW in the next five years.

This was announced by Principal Secretary (Energy) K. Jairaj at an interactive meet on “Accelerated promotion of solar water heating systems and green buildings in potential cities of Karnataka,” organised by the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd. (KREDL) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in Bangalore on Thursday.

Mr. Jairaj said the main intention was to make Karnataka the leader in the renewable energy sector.

The proposed policy would lay emphasis on solar, wind and bio-mass projects as the State had huge potential to tap these energy sources, he noted. The State had potential to tap 8,000 MW to 13,000 MW of wind power alone. However, only a little over 1,000 MW of wind power had been tapped so far.

Responding to a suggestion by MNRE Secretary Deepak Gupta that an innovative city like Bangalore should have solar-powered streetlights from the city centre to the international airport, Mr. Jairaj said the Government would work out the ways and means of implementing the suggestion.

He said the Government would go a step further and hold consultations with the five electricity supplying companies in the State to convince them to convert all streetlights in their jurisdiction to solar-powered ones in the course of time in coordination with the municipal bodies concerned.

The absence of commissioners of municipal bodies at the workshop irked Mr. Gupta. Pointing out that the role of municipal bodies in creating awareness among people about the benefits of renewable energy was very important, Mr. Gupta expressed dissatisfaction over their absence.

Plan cleared

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has cleared a proposal for setting up a municipal waste-based power generation plant with a capacity of 8 MW in Bangalore.

Announcing this at a press conference, Mr. Gupta said the Ministry would provide a capital subsidy of Rs. 10 crore to the project. This scheme, to be implemented by a private power generator along with the BBMP, is the biggest waste-based power generation plant in the State.

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