Govt set to bring policy to cover houses in energy shadow areas
RANCHI: The Jharkhand government will soon bring a policy for promotion of mini and micro grid in a bid to cover power shadow areas of the state through renewable sources of energy, said an official on Friday.
Jharkhand has 45 lakh electricity consumers, who get power via traditional source of energy, mainly the fossil energy.
There are 10,000 households, which fall in power shadow areas (deprived of power or quality power).
“These consumers are located in dense forest or hilly areas, mainly in Chatra, West Singhbhum and Santhal districts. Taking the transmission line is a Herculean task,” said the official.
Director of Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), KK Verma said, “The rural households under energy shadow areas would be covered under the policy. We have already initiated the process to draft the mini and micro grid policy, which has provision for installation
of mini grid projects of one kilowatt of power to 500 kWp capacities and various hybrid models using a combination of renewable sources such as solar and biomass.”
JREDA and Centre for Environment & Energy Development Agency (CEED) met several stakeholders to discuss about the draft policy on Friday.
Verma said, “We are planning to bring the policy in next financial year 2021-22.”
The state already has a solar power policy, however, the official said this policy is different from that.
“Solar power policy talks about power production in megawatts and serving large scale of households and industries, while this policy talks of power production in kilowatts for individual purposes or small sections of the society,” he said.
He said initially government would support renewable power projects under the policy through subsidy and incentives and later on it would be promoted commercially.
He said renewable source of energy would be much cheaper than the traditional source of energy.
A unit of solar energy costs between ₹2.40 to ₹3.09.
The policy would not only help increase reach of electricity but also improve rural economy and generate employment. “A rural household could offer their barren land to set up 25kw or 50kw plant and earn money through it.”
Jharkhand currently produces 29 megawatt of solar energy. Verma said, “We have projects of 200 megawatt pending with central government for approval. Besides, a project of floating solar power plant on Ranchi’s Getalsud dam of 150 megawatt is also in process.”
For sustainable energy transitions
Ashwani Ashok, head renewable energy at CEED, said, “This policy will strengthen the idea of energy access in the rural regions, where round the clock quality and reliable electricity is a bigger challenge. Mini and micro grids are well positioned to fill the energy access gap for a sizeable number of rural consumers and will further help in reviving the rural economy and enable the state to move onto the path of sustainable energy transitions.”