Uttar Pradesh to set up 10.7 GW solar plants in five years

• 6 years ago (2018-01-30)
• David Flin

Asia 892 Solar 273

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The Uttar Pradesh Government has said that the Indian state will set up around 6000 solar power plants to meet its clean energy target of 10,700 MW in the next five years. Brijesh Pathak, Additional Energy Sources Minister for Uttar Pradesh, said that figures from the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) indicated that the state has a solar energy potential of 22.3 GW.

Pathak said: “We have decided to install some 6000 solar power plants in the state, and also harness solar energy through solar rooftops. I am confident that the intensity of interest evinced by the stakeholders will definitely help the department become the number one department in the entire country. When MNRE was first formed in 1985, no attention was paid to it. The department was originally considered to be an optional one. However, now the department has started to get its due importance, and we have already announced our new policy.”

The Minister claimed that solar panels have been designed to provide uninterrupted power for 25 years, and it appealed to people to purchase such panels for enjoying uninterrupted power supply in their houses. He said: “We are not considering solar energy as an optional source of energy, but rather as one of the mainstream sources of energy.”

Pathak added that the Uttar Pradesh Government will provide transmission lines up to 15 km from solar energy plants of 50-150 MW capacity.