By IANS,
Chandigarh : In a first of its kind venture in the country, the Punjab government Wednesday approved the setting up of a project which will generate solar power by utilising the space over irrigation canals in the state.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Wednesday approved the project which is also expected to reduce the evaporation of water from the irrigation canals, a state government spokesman said here.
At a high-level meeting between Badal, senior government officials and representatives of a private company in this field of solar power generation, the company was allowed to take up a pilot project on one of the canals for generation of one mega-watt of solar power.
Officials of the company, P4P Private Limited, said that the project would also save canal water up to five million gallons a year by reducing evaporation.
“In addition, the project will utilise the space over the canals, thereby saving land space, and generate solar power,” company officials told the meeting.
“It was informed in the meeting that by establishing these solar canal cover power generation systems, Punjab would become the first state in the country to use this technology,” the spokesman added.
The founder of P4P, Steven Congar, its owner Jessie Singh and expert Robin Mathews assured Badal that the pilot project would be commissioned within next six months.