‘Solar energy to solve city’s power woes’

A rather bold statement by the Delhi government.  Still, it shows a confidence in renewable energy that we need to see from more of our elected representatives.

From Hindustan Times:

The Delhi government has told the Supreme Court that it has embarked on an ambitious plan to improve power situation in the capital through large-scale generation of solar energy. In an affidavit filed on Friday, the Delhi government said it is in the process of formulating a detailed solar power policy. Solar water heating system has already been made mandatory for some categories of buildings such as hotels, banquet halls, hospitals and large canteens and traffic signals.
Two power projects will also be in place by the end of 2012 to produce ‘green electricity’ from municipal solid waste, it said giving details of its plans.
“The measures are aimed at energy conservation through promotion of alternative renewable energy sources,” it said.
The affidavit came in response to a February 17 order of the court seeking details on steps being taken to popularize solar energy.
The affidavit said as per the solar power policy, power generation from solar photo-voltaic systems would be promoted. The power generated from these systems and supplied to the grid are to be purchased by discoms at a rate decided by government.
The government said solar energy based Light Emitting Diode (LED) is being used at 669 out of 730 traffic signals and 91 out of 426 traffic blinkers and the process of installing LEDs in the rest will be finished by this year-end.
It said Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd has informed the government that it is in the process of setting up solar power plants on rooftops of Pragati-I power station and IP Gas turbine power station.
On the initiatives for generating energy from municipal waste, the government said the Timarpur-Okhla project would generate 16mw of green electricity and is expected to be completed by this year. The Ghazipur project would also process 1,300 tonnes per day of municipal waste to generate about 12MW of electricity.