Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Apr 27: Efforts are on for resolving issues pertaining to acquisition of land for the 100 MegaWatts Solar Park at Kathua, sanctioned by the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. This was disclosed by S K Mishra, Director, Power System, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) while speaking at a Webinar organized by Samiksha- the Society for Inclusive and Sustainable Development” on the topic “Role of Solar power in J&K and the way forward”.
Mishra, who was the chief guest further held the view that there is a tremendous scope for development of solar power in J&K which has the potential to contribute to the national target of having 100 GW of solar power installed in the by 2022. He also informed that the overall target set by the GoI is to have 175 GW of renewable energy plants installed in the country by 2022 and enhance the component of renewable energy to 40% in the energy mix for power generation in the country by 2030. He said that Ladakh is one of the main “reservoirs” of solar energy and a transmission line is planned to be constructed to New Wanpoh Sub Station of POWERGRID in Kashmir which will help in improving the power availability in J&K.
Earlier, while setting the tone for the Webinar Jagmohan Sharma, Member Samiksha, said that J&K has a long way to go in establishing itself as a responsible solar energy player in the country. While as the installed capacity of solar power in the country has reached 35 GW since the launch of “National Solar Power Mission” but the contribution of J&K has been only 0.019 GW. Similarly, the total generation capacity from renewables in the country as of now is 88 GW but the contribution of J&K is only 0.204 GW. He said that a 100 MW solar park was sanctioned for J&K that had to come up in Kathua but till date no action seems to have been taken in the direction of implementation of this project.
The Webinar was also addressed by Bashir Ahmed Dar, Secretary Technical PDD, who emphasized that the Government of J&K is seized of the matter and an all-out effort is being made to catch up with the targets set for renewables.
In his presentation, Dr. Sanjeev Anand, Asst. Professor, SMVD University – Katra spoke about various technologies involved in the implementation of solar power projects. Pranav Bargotra outlined the works being carried out by JAKEDA.
Others who addressed the webinar were Manoj Pande – MD Statcon Energia and Bharat Wakhlu.
Concluding remarks were given by Ajay Khajuria, president Samiksha. Malvika Khajuria Founding Member Samiksha moderated the Webinar. CM Sharma, secretary Samiksha coordinated.
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