On March 3, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government signed an agreement with the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, to implement solar power projects of the capacity 7,500 MW.
The MoU was signed between Union Joint Secretary, MNRE, Tarun Kapoor and Jammu and Kashmir State Commissioner Secretary, Science and Technology Bipul Pathak, a report from Economic Times said.
The Ladakh area in J&K has the potential to generate 30,000 MW of solar energy, according to industry estimates. The new agreement will pave the way to trap this potential in a big way, said the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah.
The initiative would also catapult the energy sector in the state besides bringing in economic revolution. The Ministry has initiated various projects in Jammu and Kashmir to help the state to generate power from non-conventional resources available here.
The state government, in cooperation with MNRE, has set up a number of solar plants across several hospitals, educational institutes and more besides providing solar lights to the people in rural and far-flung areas.
Recently the J&K government said it is in the process of awarding 36,891 solar home-lights along with street lights in 299 villages and hamlets across the state.
Around 244 villages and 15 hamlets have been given solar home-lighting systems, during a span of last few years, in the state. In the next financial year, 36 villages and 263 hamlets are listed to get 34,483 numbers of solar home-lights and 2,408 solar street lights.
picture source: indiamike