Jaipur fails to prepare solar city masterplan, loses central funds
While the union government had declared Jaipur as a ‘solar city’ way back in 2009, the state has not received any funds forthesameasitfailedtoprepare a master plan, state power minister Pushpendra Singh Ranawat informed the House in a written reply on Tuesday.
The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has failed to prepare a master plan according to the guidelines of the Union government, the minister said.
“Some work has been done under the scheme, but if JMC had prepared a master plan then more funds would have been received,” an official of Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd (RRECL) told Hindustan Times.
“The state government has been working in the field of solar heating and rooftop solar power,” he said.
Rajasthan lags behind neighbouring states in rooftop solar power capacity despite huge potential. The central government has given Rajasthan a target of 2,300 MW rooftop solar capacity by 2022.
However, the officials have termed the target as ‘steep.’
In December last year, Rajasthan government announced exemption of electricity duty of 40 paise per unit for rooftop solar to help the state reach closer to the target.
According to the union ministryofnewandrenewableenergy (MNRE) data, Rajasthan has only 31 MW sanctioned projects under grid connected roof-top and small solar power plants programme.
However, Madhya Pradesh has 115 MW projects followed by Gujarat (81.75 MW) and Haryana (75 MW). Among all states with sanctioned/approved projects, Tamil Nadu leads with 312 MW projects under the scheme.
The MNRE provides up to 30 per cent financial assistance of benchmark cost in general category states and up to 70 per cent in special category states to promote the programme.
At present, work is in progress on installation of 25 MW solar rooftop panels.
The rate contract order has been awarded to different companies, and individuals interested to put up rooftop plants can approach these vendors for installation and five years maintenance.