By IANS,
Chandigarh : Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) signed an agreement with Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) here Wednesday to set up a 1 MW solar power plant in the state.
“This 1 MW scale solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plant will be built on a build, operate and own basis at Lalru town in Mohali district,” Punjab’s science and technology minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia said.
“With this project, the total capacity of SPV plants in the state will go up to 18 MW,” he added.
SPV power projects have been allocated to various private sector companies in Punjab.
BPCL’s corporate affairs executive director A.K. Bansal said his company was interested in renewable energy resources such as wind energy, solar energy and hydro energy.
“We have set up 5 MW windmills in Karnataka and are planning to set up more in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra,” Bansal told IANS.
“This is our pilot project with PEDA, and we will monitor its outcome in the initial months. Then going by the feedback, we will explore setting up more such projects in Punjab.”
Majithia said he found it strange that on one side, the central government is “ready to spend billions” on the nuclear deal, but on the other, it has stopped the subsidy given on solar power projects in Punjab.
“This is a major setback on the expansion of renewable resources in the state,” he said.
Majithia said several cogeneration projects with a combined capacity to produce 68 MW of electricity were at advance stages of completion and would be commissioned by October.
Additionally, 140 MW capacity projects using biomass will be set up in the state for the first time with German collaboration.