3,000 solar panels to power Pune Raj Bhavan with 15 lakh units a year
The chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that efforts are on to reduce the production cost of electricity from ₹6 per unit to ₹3.20 per unit through various measures such as reducing the consumption of power to its conservation.
Speaking after inaugurating the solar power project at Raj Bhavan, Fadnavis said the government is offering ₹10,000 crore as subsidy on power to farmers. “Efforts are on to reduce the subsidy by bringing down the production cost by conserving the electricity at different level. We have also introduced Solar feeder through which we plan to generate power at ₹3.20 per unit and reduce the subsidy,” said Fadnavis. The chief minister, on Saturday, laid the foundation stone of a solar feeder at Ralegan Siddhi to ensure cheap and assured electricity to farmers even during the day.
Under the solar power project, all three Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur, will be lit up through non-conventional energy. At Pune’s Raj Bhavan, 3,000 solar panels installed on six acres will generate 15 lakh units of power annually. The idea of lighting up Raj Bhavans on solar panel was first floated by governor Vidyasagar Rao, who was also present during the inauguration ceremony.
While the installation of solar panels was carried out by a private firm, the state-owned Maharashtra Energy Development Agency is the nodal agency.
The chief minister said that the government, under power minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, has taken up the programme to replace normal energy consuming bulbs with energy efficient LEDs.
“We have already ensured that around eight crore LEDs have been used and plans to ensure people in the state use eight crore more LEDs in the coming days,” said Fadnavis.
Highlighting the use of solar power energy to reduce the usage of conventional energy, the CM stressed upon the new policy taken up by Bawankule.“Energy minister has taken it in his policy to create 14,400 megawatt renewable energy under the new policy which will help save 1,000 megawatt of energy. The first step is to use energy efficient equipment, bulbs and gadgets under this policy, where currently eight crores of LED (streetlights) bulbs have been put up in Maharashtra and another eight crore are to be changed,” the chief minister added.
Source: hindustantimes
