RENEWABLE ENERGY MINSTRY ENDORSES CAPACITY ADDITION OF 4000 MW
AND ELECTRIFICATION OF 5000 REMOTE VILLAGES DURING ITS ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
The annual conference on implementation strategies
for renewable energy programmes during the 10th plan
concluded here today. The conference after having a detailed two
day deliberations made many important recommendations for implementing
the programmes in this area. The conference endorses that during
10th Plan, a total capacity addition of about 4000
MW of power through wind, biomass, small hydro, waste to energy
and solar energy would be achieved. The Conference has agreed
to electrify 5000 un-electrified remote villages out of 18,000
villages, which are not feasible for electrification through the
conventional grid using locally available renewable energy sources
such as solar, biomass and small hydro during 10th
Five Year Plan and to implement this challenging task on a Mission
Mode. All State Governments, implementing Organisations and Agencies
have assured to make all efforts for successful implementation
of these programmes for achieving the goals.
State Governments also assured to play a pro-active
role for implementation of socially oriented programmes of renewable
energy for meeting basic energy needs of cooking, heating and
lighting of rural villages by following a village-based approach
instead of individual/beneficiary approach.
The conference emphasised that the Ministry should
make all efforts to get a renewable energy policy in place and
to incorporate enabling provisions of renewable energy in the
Draft Electricity Bill.
The concluding session of the conference was
presided over by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Non-Conventional
Energy Sources, Shri M. Kannappan,. He distributed the awards
to the State Nodal Agencies and State Government Departments for
excellent performance in implementation of various renewable energy
programmes for the year 2000-01. These awards are in recognition
of the dedicated efforts of the State Governments, their agencies
& officers and the Non Governmental organizations for promoting
the use of non-conventional energy sources. The awards were given
to 15 States for Excellence in Performance in various programmes
such as Biogas, Improved Chulhas, Solar Energy, Wind Power, Small
Hydro Power and Information and Public Awareness Programmes. The
Ministry has instituted three new awards i.e. Best Award for Women
and Renewable Energy Development, Best Performance in Export of
Solar Energy Products and Best Performance in Export of Solar
Energy Products and Best Performance Under Soft Loan Scheme for
Solar Water Heating Systems from the year 2000-2001.
The States of West Bengal and Sikkim have been
adjudged the best performing States as far as the Solar Energy
Programme is concerned. The main shield for overall performance
under wind power generation programme has been awarded to the
State of Maharashtra. The States of Himachal Pradesh and Andhra
Pradesh received awards for best overall performance in implementation
of Small Hydro Power Programmes for hilly and plain regions respectively.
The special award for best performance under soft loan scheme
for Solar Water Heating System has been given to the Bank of Maharashtra.
Similarly a special Award for best performance in exports of solar
energy products was given to Tata BP Solar India Ltd.
