Punjab to ink deal with Lockheed Martin for clean energy

Punjab government today said it will sign an MoU with US-based Lockheed Martin for developing clean energy.
The global security and aerospace company would also provide plastic structures for solar panels in order to harness 1000 MW of solar power in the state, said an official release here.
A decision in this regard was taken in a meeting between Punjab Non-Conventional Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and a three-member team of Lockheed Martin comprising CEO Phil Shaw, Chief Innovation Officer Tushar Shah and Regional Director Jagmohan Singh.
During the interaction, Majithia said the state has plans to meet 15 per cent demand for energy from clean energy.

He said the state government has decided to explore around 5,000 km of canal lengths for putting solar panels. "But due to heavy cost of structures, it becomes unviable. If Lockheed Martin can develop cheaper but durable plastic structures then this area has a huge potential to be harnessed in future," he said.
Majithia said the state was facing a critical issue of burning of paddy stubble, causing serious damage to the fertility of land as well as polluting the environment.

He said it could only be taken care of if farmers could get additional income in lieu of their agricultural residue.

Taking part in the deliberations, Shaw informed the minister that the company has come out with waste to energy conversion solutions with successful conversion of waste products to electricity, heat and fuel by using gasification processes.
He said that it was an environmentally friendly green recycling technology which requires less space and these plants were fully automated.
He said that wood chips, agri-waste, sewage sludge, plastics, municipal solid waste and hospital waste could be used for these plants.