Punjab Plans To Add 66 New Solar Power Plants

India's renewable capacity additions in 2024 have seen a surge.

The Punjab government is planning to set up 66 new solar power plants with each having 4 MW of capacity, Aman Arora, the state Minister of New and Renewable Energy Sources said. With this the Punjab government wants to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and cut the annual power subsidy, he added.

As per the estimates, the total capacity of the project would be around 264 MW. The statement came after a high-level meeting of the State renewable energy ministry, along with Power Minister Harbhajan Singh, and senior officials from the departments of New & Renewable Energy Sources, Power and Punjab Development Commission to deliberate on strategies for the ambitious project.

As per the statement, the project is expected to generate around 390 million units (MU) of electricity annually. By implementing feeder-level solarisation, it was expected to result in annual savings of around Rs 136 crore to the state. The project is expected to attract around Rs 1,056-crore of investment in the state. Thus, paving the way for the creation of job opportunities.

Punjab has been aggressively pushing for renewable energy. According to the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy state-wise installed capacity data, as of June 30, Punjab just has a total installed renewable energy capacity of 3,197 MW. Of this, the total share of solar energy is around 1,357 MW.