Subsidised solar lamps for Haryana households

To combat power shortage in the residential sector, the Haryana government would provide subsidised LED (light emitting diode)-based SPV (solar photovoltic) lamps. Disclosing this today, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Mahender Partap Singh said the state government had released an amount of Rs 109.28 lakh for installation of 4,371 LED-based SPV Home Lighting Systems.

The cost of a system would be Rs 3,900 and the state government would provide subsidy at the rate of Rs 2,500 per system, he added.

He said that 100 each such Home Lighting Systems would be installed in Ambala, Mewat, Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts, 294 each in Bhiwani, Faridabad and Jhajjar districts, 208 each in Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Jind, Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Palwal, Rewari, Sirsa and Sonipat districts. As many as 295 systems would be installed in Rohtak and 298 in Mahendragarh districts.

The systems would be given on first-come-first-serve basis for which an official of the Integrated Rural Energy Programme (IREP) would maintain the register of the concerned district by giving wide publicity through local newspaper and also through public notice board of the ADC office, he added.

It would be ensured that out of the allocated targets at least 20 per cent of the systems be distributed among the SC/ST beneficiaries under General Programme, said Mahender Partap Singh, adding while distributing the systems, preference would be given to the women-headed households and those households which are having school going girl children. Priority would be given to the physically challenged applicants.

Spelling out the functioning of the system, director of Hareda Sumita Misra said the LED-based SPV Home Lighting Systems consisted of PV module of 8 watt, sealed maintenance battery of capacity 12 volt 7 Ah at C/20 and light output of minimum 15 lux when measured from a height of 2.5 metres and illuminated over an area of at least 2.5 metre diameter.

The average duty cycle of this system would be 4 hours a day and autonomy would be minimum of 3 days (maximum 14 operating hours per permissible discharge). The PV module would be warranted for a period of minimum 15 years from the date of supply and the white LEDs solar home system (excluding the battery) would be warranted for a period of 5 years from the date of supply. The battery would be warranted at least for a period of 2 years. This system was less costly for lighting purposes, she added.