Ministry of New and Renewable Energy celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy organised a webinar in support with The World Bank on Solarization of Indian Cities. In addition, online training sessions along with physical ground campaigns were caried out by DISCOM officers and Solar Ambassadors yesterday. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is hosting various activities during the week 23-27 August 2021 to celebrate “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” .

The Prime Minister has desired that each State should have at least one solar city where all electricity needs of the city are fully met from solar energy or other renewable energy sources. Solar cities would largely benefit from low power costs, reduced emissions, and low carbon footprint.

At the webinar, Mr Amitesh Sinha, Joint Secretary, MNRE, shared that so far 22 states/UTs have identified cities to be developed as solar cities. He informed that the target would be to utilize a maximum roof space available for installation of rooftop solar, installation of waste to energy plants, exploring other energy sources like wind, small hydro, biomass as per available potential and using decentralized applications like solar street lights, solar trees, etc.   The representative from The World Bank, gave a detailed presentation on the key aspects and approaches for solarization of cities.

This was followed by an interactive public session where citizens across the country who have​​ installed rooftop solar systems in their premises shared their experience and benefits of installing rooftop solar systems. An expert panel discussion on “Sharing of solar city implementation and the way forward “was held where panelists including senior officials from Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat shared the key details of their plans, achievements, and way forward for implementing the solar city program.