By 2025, nearly 25% of energy requirements in Maha will be from solar energy: Aaditya Thackeray
State minister of environment and tourism – Aaditya Thackeray on Friday stated that by 2025, nearly 25 percent of the energy requirements in Maharashtra will be derived from solar energy.
“Energy transition is need of the hour and solar power is going to be the next big thing in Maharashtra, we are working towards implementing methods of deriving energy from sustainable sources,” Aaditya said, while addressing an webinar hosted by the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU) along with King’s College, London.
Aaditya mentioned, to boost usage of sustainable energy, the state government is in the process of installing solar cells in barren farm-lands of north-Maharashtra.
“We are balancing development with environment conservation, in the Mumbai-Pune highway solar panels have been installed and catchment areas for rainwater harvesting have been created, we will be doing the same in the Mumbai-Nagpur Highway as well,” stated Aaditya.
The minister stated, climate change has affected the state of Maharashtra already, as the state had experienced high temperatures in summer and extended monsoon last year. As a result, his government has become keen on building a climate resilient ecology in the state, to adapt to the change in climatic conditions.
The minister also pointed out, in 2020, the state government had to shell out around Rs 13,000 crores to provide compensation for those who have been affected in natural catastrophes like cyclones and unseasonal rains.
“Climate action starts from all of us, now we have started to audit government expenses being spent on electricity and fossil fuels, we are emphasising more on video conference we are doing all these to minimise carbon footprints,” stated the minister.
The state minister also pointed out, in the past three years the daily solid waste generated in Mumbai has fallen by 35 percent.
Aaditya stated in 2017, Mumbai was generating around 10,000 Mega Tonnes (MT) of solid waste daily which came down to 6,500 MT in 2020.
“Solid Waste management is need of the hour in Mumbai, by coming up with policies like plastic ban, we were able to control the daily waste output to some extent and we are working towards further minimising the daily generated waste,” Thackeray stated.
Source: freepressjournal.in
