Give solar equipments to farmers instead of subsidy: Pun Guv

Punjab Governor Shivraj V Patil today stressed on providing cost effective solar run equipments to farmers to make them energy efficient instead of giving them subsidy.
"Instead of providing subsidy to farmers, the government should try and provide solar equipment for making the farmers energy efficient", said Patil while addressing a conference on 'Harvesting the Sun' organised by CII here.
"It is imperative that India takes the lead and develops hi-tech and cost effective solar panels not only for industrial and domestic purposes, but also our agricultural and irrigation needs," said a CII release quoting Patil.
He also called for extensive focus and investments in Research and Development (R&D) for making cost effective solar panels and cells that can bring about the much needed solar revolution in India.

Patil also asked industry to take a cue from China which invest in R&D in order to produce highly efficient and cost effective solar equipment.
"Presently, the same solar panel which costs only Rs 20,000 in China is worth Rs 2 lakh in India," he said.

Jayant Davar, Chairman, CII Northern Region & Co-Chairman, Sandhar Technologies said, "All stakeholders should join hands for aggressive R&D to develop solar energy efficient future as it has the potential to meet almost 7 per cent of country's power needs by 2022, mitigate 2.6 per cent of carbon emissions and save over 71 tons per annum (TPA) of imported coal equal to USD 5.5 billion of imports.

He further said, "In India, every year there is an increase of 20-30 per cent in energy requirement in the residential sector and 8-10 per cent increase in commercial sector; leading to a situation where there are energy deficits, so solar energy is the answer."
Talking about the major bottlenecks of the solar industry, David Lelliott, British Deputy High Commissioner, Northwest India, said, "Cost reduction, grid management, community acceptance and landscape issues have been barring the path of solar future not only in India but also in developed countries like UK."
He also informed that the UK government had been supporting Indian states like Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh in implementation of solar rooftop policy.