The second wave of Covid-19 has set up a UT (Chandigarh) power management system to achieve 100MW of solar power generation by the end of 2022.
As companies doing this work find it difficult to get parts of solar plants from different countries at a time, the UT project scheduled to start this year was delayed.
The UT’s chief executive said officials are currently fully focused on saving lives. Solar power generation will be taken when the problem is overcome. The target set by the end of 2022 may not be completed and they will now fix the revised deadlines, he added.
The Department of New and Renewable Energy has upgraded the city’s target of 50 megawatts (MW) to 69 MW, which is to be achieved by 2022. To date, UT has achieved production of about 40 MW. UT had planned to achieve more than intended, setting a target of 100MW by 2022.
Recently, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) also rejected a request by UT management to use the Resco (Renewable Energy Service Company) model for solar panels in the city. The Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (Crest), has prompted JERC to use the Resco model in the city.
Crest, which is responsible for implementing the project, had proposed the model after the approval of UT administrator V P Singh Badnore as residents warned of an initial investment.
Under the Resco model, UT had arranged for private companies to install solar power plants in a private area, and, in turn, charge the property owner a much lower tax (Rs 3.44 per unit) than the average electricity rate (Rs 2.75 to Rs. 5.20) for about 15 years (or any time agreed upon in the tender). After that, the landlord will get the plant.
The owner of the building and the private company will sign the agreement. The plant will be placed under a net metering mode, where solar energy is obtained from the building’s electrical system, and solar energy sent to the grid is adjusted according to units imported from the electricity department during the payment cycle.
The deadline is not extended after March 31.
The UT administration last year extended the sunset deadline until next March 31, 2021. But recently, UT has not extended the deadline. Last year, the extension was extended as the work ban became operational. At the time the UT authorities also decided not to impose sanctions on residents until the closure was over. Authorities in a notice issued on May 18, 2016, have mandated the installation of solar panels for residential units measuring 500 sq yd or more and group housing communities.
Source: Times of India