President Kovind’s Childhood Home in Rural UP Goes Solar

President Ram Nath Kovind’s residence ‘Milan Kendra’ in his native village of Paraunkh, Uttar Pradesh, has now become solarised, a move that should boost awareness about the rooftop solar industry in the region and beyond.

Located 70 km away from Kanpur, the President’s childhood home is now powered by a 5 kW solar plant, which was set up on its roof by HomeScape, the residential venture of distributed energy company Amplus Solar. The system was installed just ahead of President Kovind’s two-day (June 25-27, 2021) “rail yatra” to his native village though a special train which began its journey from Safdarjung railway station, Delhi.

According to data recorded last year, Uttar Pradesh housed the seventh-largest installed rooftop solar energy generation capacity in the country, and by the end of February, 2020, the state’s rooftop solar capacity stood at 146.1 MW, 2020, whereas its total installed solar power capacity was 1,095.10 MW.

The Paraunkh solar plant was installed within a single day, right from site inspection to commissioning, with the assistance of the state discom (Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam), UP Power Corporation, and the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (UPPWD). That in itself is probably a record of sorts, in a state where practically nothing can happen in a day. One does hope that this will inspire the state discom/s to target at least a 30-day process for the common people of the state too.

The plant is expected to generate a total of 172500 kWh of electricity through its lifetime. The plant was commissioned in the presence of President Kovind’s elder brother Shri Ramswaroop Bharti and was inaugurated by the President himself upon completing his train journey.

The state government has set a target of 10,700 MW for solar power, including 4,300 MW from rooftop solar projects, by 2022. It was reported last month that solar lights-making self-help groups lit up the community toilet of Paraunkh. This was the second toilet in the state to be illuminated with solar energy by the women of these self-help groups. Earlier, solar electrification work was done in the toilets of the Todarpur village in Kanpur.