By 2025, Delhi govt aims to meet 25% of annual demand through solar power

The Delhi government's solar policy, which will be notified next month, aims to meet 25 per cent of the city's annual electricity demand through the clean energy by 2025, Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot announced on Wednesday.

While presenting his maiden budget as finance minister, Gahlot in the assembly announced an allocation of Rs 3,348 crore for the power sector, up from Rs 3,340 crore last year, and highlighted that electricity rates have not been increased in the last eight years.

"The Delhi government has treated providing minimum electricity to every household in Delhi like a fundamental right and in the year 2022-23, out of Delhi's 58.5 lakh domestic consumers, about 84 per cent had availed the Delhi government's electricity subsidy scheme," he said in the assembly.

Gahlot said the government's Solar Policy will be notified by next month and it will establish Delhi as a leading example for the country in the field of solar energy.

"The Delhi Solar Policy 2022 aims to meet 25 per cent of Delhi's annual electricity demand through solar energy by 2025, which currently stands at nine per cent," the minister said.

"To achieve this, the policy has set a target of installing solar infrastructure with a capacity of 6,000 MW by 2025, which will include 750 MW of 'Roof Top Solar' (RTS)," he said. The policy also aims to generate around 12,000 green jobs in the national capital, Gahlot said.

Claiming that the Delhi government has come forward as an example for the world by setting up EV (electric vehicle) charging stations with the lowest charging tariffs, he said 30 charging stations will be launched this month.

"The minimum cost for EV charging is only Rs 3 per kWh, which is the lowest EV charging tariff. First 11 of 100 EV charging stations were inaugurated on October 18, 2022. Another 30 charging stations will be launched in March 2023 and the rest in the next financial year," Gahlot said.

Nearly 900 EV charging points and 103 battery swapping points will come up in the city, he said.

In 2021-22, 84 per cent of the 58.5 lakh domestic consumers in the city availed the Delhi government's electricity subsidy scheme, the finance minister said and added that Delhi successfully met its peak power demand of 7,695 MW units on June 29 last year with zero load-shedding.

"The aggregate technical and commercial losses of Delhi is now the lowest in the whole country at less than eight per cent," he said.