UP Solar Power Initiatives: sunny days are ahead

Lucknow: Starting from rural community street lighting by solar power, the Uttar Pradesh government, in a first in the country, has laid out a plan to install high light masts at every crossing of each city of the state.

In fact each of 75 district headquarters of the state will have 40 places where the solar-lit high light masts will be erected, the blue print of which has already been prepared, Parthsarathy Sen Sharma, the secretary to UP Chief Minister and in charge of Alternative Energy Sources deptt said. It will be an ambitious programme since over 1.1 lakh LED based solar street lighting systems have already been installed in the villages selected under Lohiya Samagra Gram Vikas Yojana and Janeshwar Mishra villages of the state.

UP, credited with the first Solar Power Policy -2013 and UP Mini-grid Policy 2016, is poised to achievedthe targeted capacity of 500 MW connected with the grid in few months time, quite an achievement in view of the fact that the state had no solar power initiative before 2013 in the state. Besides the street lighting, as many as about 300 solar plants for RO water, fans and lights in primary schools of the state have been installed and 200 others are in the process, said the Secretary.

According to the Secretary to UP CM, the strides taken by the state in the field of solar energy have drawn appreciation from former President APJ Abdul Kalam who had visited the Mini-grid Solar Power Plant of 250 KW at Fakirpur Chanduahar village in Kannauj district. The incentive plans of the state government have also attracted several private companies who desire to set up plants either in the form of Solar parks or in various townships,he claimed.