“Adoption of latest solar technologies, indigenous production of Hi tech solar photovoltaic panels & even more efficient solar equipment and most importantly, its acceptance by citizens, institutes and the industry etc by aggressive promotion campaigns is the key to make Chandigarh a model Solar City”, highlighted HE Mr Shivraj V Patil, Governor, Punjab and Administrator, UT Chandigarh, while addressing the Conference on Promoting Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Systems jointly organized by the Chandigarh Renewable Energy, Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), GoI, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF) at CII Headquarters, here today.
Calling upon the SME & large industry to produce latest solar equipment and more efficient and advanced panels, he further shared that “Chandigarh, which has been ideally chosen as the Model Solar City by the Government of India being young and vibrant, has tremendous potential to reach the target of 5 MW Solar energy production in next few years. Further, the SME & Large industry can really capitalise on this and earn huge profits, because this is the energy of the future, being un-polluting and absolutely free, once the capital investment is put in. Even residents can earn profits by supplying excess energy back to the grid, simply by putting up solar panels on their roof tops. What is imperative is the sound popularisation, promotion and large scale domestic production of the same to achieve benefits of ‘economies of scale’. In this way, as the prices fall, we won’t need to import the panels from other countries and save a lot of forex reserves as well. Even Financial Institutions and banks can also be collaborated to generate funds for the same.”
“We would provide income tax concessions and also plead with the Centre for incentives to those who invest in R&D and adopt innovative technologies in this field. Presently, the Chandigarh Administration offers 25 % additional subsidy for installation of solar panels in addition to the 30 % subsidy offered by the GoI, making it 55 %. Punjab is willing to provide 30 % extra subsidy over and above the GoI’s 30 % subsidy to its farmers”, he further added.
The Conference aimed to bring together all key stakeholders to create a power surplus sustainable future and also launch the beta Version of the Tool created by TERI especially for Chandigarh as a pivotal project, which would calculate gross solar radiation of Chandigarh. The residents can just click the link and check the solar radiation for their respective homes. The link is – www.regisindia.com
Mr K K Sharma, IAS, Advisor to Administrator, UT Chandigarh, said “Technical-Scientific expertise and capital investments are needed to make Chandigarh a model solar city. We would take utmost care of the metering and incentive issues. Also, the industry needs to improve its supply chain management and production techniques.”
He also informed that Chandigarh Administration has implemented a sound and effective single-window system for solar projects and rooftop applications. “Now, to claim subsidy, residents do not have to apply to Centre, but we are the nodal agency and it is due to this reason that besides the 6 government buildings, now 5 residential houses have also installed solar panels over their roof tops, which will be a trend setting example”, he added.
Mr Santosh Kumar, Director – Science & Technology, Chandigarh & CEO, CREST said that “In India, solar power contributes only 18 thousand mega-watt to the national power grid whereas it is 8 Giga watt in China and 4 Giga watt in Germany. In order to increase this power share, apprehensions regarding solar energy need to be addressed and we need to popularize solar culture across cities.”
“In order to achieve grid parity by 2015, we need to adopt sustainable power generation methods at large-scale and Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Systems will be a new boon in this field. It will pull off unprecedented growth in coming future and has tremendous investment opportunities,” he added
Mr Man Mohan Singh, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council & CEO, Aroma Group shared that “In India, every year there is an increase of 20-30% in energy requirement in the residential sector and 10-15% increase in commercial sector; leading to a situation where there are both, energy as well as peak deficits. In such scenario, it becomes quite evident to power the future with solar energy. This conference proved to be a great platform to promote rooftop solar photovoltaic systems and to create awareness about the practical implementation of solar energy, remove myths about it and motivate to use this energy to save our earth.”
Mr Vikram Hans, Past Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council & Managing Director Multi Overseas (I) P Ltd, made a recommendations on behalf of CII to bring about eminent change in the field of solar power generation, which included- Financial structuring and need of pilot intervention of private banks for solar power projects, development of a knowledge and skill base in the tricity, aggressive support to grid connectivity and organizing such seminars to increase awareness regarding solar energy and its feasibility.
Giving information about Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Maps, Mr Amit Kumar, Director, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) said, “Under this system, on the basis of building footprint, gross solar radiation of a city is calculated. For which, firstly a high-resolution satellite imaging survey is carried out and its information is integrated through a channel and then this information is made accessible at an open database platform (website). This technology helps in rooftop-grid connectivity. It has been carried out as a pivotal project for Chandigarh.”
Mr Deepak Gupta, Senior Programme Manager, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, called upon framing right policies and innovative business models for solar power generation, so as to reduce reliance on fossils in the coming future.