USE OF SOLAR ENERGY FOR LIGHTING AND
COOKING IN THE RURAL AREAS
The Government has been promoting
the use of solar cookers for cooking applications and of photovoltaic
devices for lighting applications both in urban and rural areas
through various schemes of the Ministry. These schemes include
promotional scheme on box solar cookers, demonstration scheme
on concentrating type solar cookers, subsidy scheme for solar
home systems, street lights and solar power plants, a soft loan
scheme for photovoltaic systems and a specific scheme for village
electrification. A total of around 5,30,500 box solar cookers,
566 concentrating cookers including 6 steam cooking systems, 2,35,162
solar home systems, 4,41,481 solar lanterns, 43,474 street lights
and 4.14 MW capacity of power plants have been installed under
these schemes till 31.3.2002. In addition, 800 census villages
have been electrified through solar energy.
About 45 private manufacturers
are involved in manufacturing and sale of solar cookers. In addition,
over 50 private sector companies are involved in manufacturing
of solar photovoltaic devices including solar lanterns.
To promote the use of wind
power for lighting and other applications, the Government has
been providing the following incentives :
- Small Aero-generators & Hybrid
systems – Central financial assistance in the range of
50 to 75 per cent of the ex-works cost of the systems subject
to a maximum of Rs.2.00 lakhs/kW depending on the category
of the user.
- Wind power projects – Soft loans
from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) for
establishment of commercial projects. In addition, fiscal
and financial incentives are available from the government
to the developers of wind power projects.
This information was given
by Shri M. Kannappan, Minister of State for Non-conventional Energy
Sources, in a written reply to a question by Shri Parameshwar
Kumar Agarwalla in the Rajya Sabha today.
