Haryana makes solar power mandatory for certain buildings

Aiming to promote energy conservation in the state, the Haryana government Sunday announced that solar power generation would be made mandatory in some categories of buildings and areas with a suitable enforcement mechanism.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said this would not only lead to generation of 200 MW of power but also an annual saving of Rs.151 crore on coal and 16.60 lakh kilo-litres of water.

"The annual energy saving by implementing the mandatory provisions will be 320 million units. Three lakh metric tonnes of annual carbon emission will also be prevented in the atmosphere," a Haryana government spokesman said.

For residential buildings of 500 square yards and above, located in municipal limits and in urban sectors, it would be made mandatory to install solar power plant of minimum one KW. The installation of the system, with subsidy, would be Rs.52,500, the spokesman said.

All private schools, educational institutes, colleges, hostels, technical, vocational education institutes and universities having connected load of 30 KW and above will be required to have mandatory installation of solar power plant of five KW. This plant will cost around Rs.2.5 lakh.

Mandatory installation of solar power plants has been made in case of other categories like nursing homes, hospitals, group housing societies and others.

"It has been decided that a state-level monitoring committee headed by chief secretary will be constituted to monitor the implementation of these energy conservation measures," the spokesman added.