Chandigarh: Punjab has taken a lead in the region by generating over 6,034 million units (MUs) of solar power in the last four years.
Whereas Haryana generated a total of 1,059 MUs from 2018-19 till May this year, Himachal Pradesh 104 MUs and UT Chandigarh 54 MUs.
This information was shared in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday by Union minister of new and renewable energy and power RK Singh while replying to a question. He said the Central government has set a target for setting up 100 gigawatt(GW) solar power capacity by 2022 in the country. Against this, a capacity of 123.11 GW has either been commissioned or is in the pipeline.
Karnataka tops the country in solar power generation and has produced 47,756 MUs solar power since 2018-19 till May this year. It is followed by Rajasthan, which generated 45,999 MUs during this period.
The Union government has released Rs 123 crore to Punjab in the last three years under various solar schemes of the ministry of new and renewable energy.
Haryana has got Rs 263 crore, Himachal Pradesh Rs 64 crore and UT Chandigarh nearly Rs 6 crore during this period.
But when it comes to installation of rooftop solar capacity in the residential sector, Haryana has till date installed over 23 megawatt(MW) capacity, UT Chandigarh 18 MW, Punjab 15 MW and Himachal Pradesh 0.78 MW. Gujarat tops the country as it has installed over 1,165 MW rooftop solar capacity in the residential sector.
The Union minister said the ministry of new and renewable energy had launched rooftop solar programme phase-II in March 2019 that provided for achieving 4,000 MW rooftop solar(RTS) capacity through central financial assistance in the residential sector.
For individual households, central financial assistance upto 40% of the benchmark cost was provided for RTS projects upto three KW capacities and upto 20% for RTS system capacity beyond 3 KW and upto 10 KW.
For the group housing societies/residential welfare associations, central financial assistance is limited to 20% for RTS plants for supply of power to common facilities and maximum 500 KW capacity.Under the simplified procedure, interested residential consumers from any part of the country can apply on the national portal for rooftop solar.
The electricity consumer will have the choice to select any vendor registered with discoms and choose the solar equipment. The subsidy is fixed and same for the entire country.
Source: PTI
