Bihar CM: Install Solar Panels on Government Buildings

In a bid to promote renewable sources of energy, chief minister Nitish Kumar on June 12, 2019 issued a directive for the installation of solar plates on all government buildings and offices in the state from this year.

Chairing a meeting to review presentations on various schemes of the energy department, the CM said there is a need to spread awareness among people to install solar plates on ponds as well as wetlands.

The meet was attended by energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and senior officials, including chief secretary Deepak Kumar and energy department principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit among others.

Recently, Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA) has issued a tender for 250MW of grid-connected solar projects in the state. A pre-bid conference was scheduled for June 13, 2019 in Patna, with the deadline for bid submissions on July 10, 2019.

As one of India’s poorest states, Bihar has traditionally been one of the slow-movers in embracing large-scale solar. The state has just 10 projects with a combined capacity of 100MW. With tens of millions of locals without access to power, solar has more often come in the form of decentralized and off-grid systems in Bihar.

The CM also asked the officials of the energy department to take applications from all farmers in the state interested in taking power connections from agriculture feeder. He also asked the officials to make a proper assessment of farmers in the state willing to take such connection.

“Awareness about the agriculture connection should be made through advertisements in television, newspaper, radio and other mediums of mass media so that farmers get to know about it,” Nitish said.

Energy Department officials claimed that agriculture connections are being given to farmers to allow them to get power from agriculture feeders. The state government has fixed the target of August next year for the installation of agriculture feeders across the state.