Panchkula Village, Govt Buildings to Get Solar Power Plants

Solar power plant of 2 MW to come up at Panchkula village

Panchkula in Haryana is moving towards fulfilling its plan of the making city completely solar powered in coming years. The administration has  plans to set up a 2 MW solar power plant on seven acres of land at Naggal village in Barwala. The plant will generate 8,000 units of electricity every day, which will be given to the power department.

Further, the administration also plans to  include five government buildings to have 5 MW solar power plants. Power generated for these buildings will be adjusted in the HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) electricity bill. The Department of renewable energy, Haryana (HAERDA) officials working on the project said that one mega solar power plant requires three acres of land and an expenditure of Rs. 3 crore.

Under the ‘Solar City-Green City’ Project, all street lights, lights at government buildings and government residential houses will be replaced with LED lights. The administration also plans to to install solar panels on all industrial units in the district.

As per officials, the project aims to generate  20% of the 607 million units of everyday consumption of the district. Those using 30kw of electricity and above at their industrial or commercial using will have to install the solar power system. The power department is making a list of such units which will will further issued notices and failing which the connection of the units will be cut. Under the Solar City Project, the administration also alms to start e-buses in collaboration with the Haryana roadways department. Five solar charging stations are to be made to promote electric vehicles at SARERA building in sector -17 DC office in Sector 1, UHBVN building in Sector -14, Municipal Community Centre and a park. It is further revealed by the officials that the permission for construction of houses of over 500 sq. meters will be given only if there is a solar power plant in the plans. Meanwhile residents want the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model for installation of solar plants on rooftops on the pattern of Chandigarh, that is being provided free of cost, presently. This will pave the way for the residents in Panchkula to do the installations readily.

There are suggestions from the Citizen Welfare Association also who approached CM of Haryana to adopt RESCO model for smooth implementation of the solar rooftops installation in the district.

In a recent development, Haryana made the renewable purchase obligation (RPO) system more dynamic and eased the liability of stakeholders as it has included wind energy within the ambit of RPO. In an important development, the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has amended the policy on RPO by including wind energy and aligning solar energy to the other categories of RPO.