UP to set up 10,700MW solar plants in five years: Minister

The Uttar Pradesh government will set up around 6,000 solar power plants to meet its clean energy target of 10,700MW in the next five years, Additional Energy Sources Minister Brijesh Pathak said.
"We have decided to install some 6,000 solar power plants in the state (for this purpose), and also harness solar energy through solar rooftops ... I am confident that the intensity of interest evinced by the stakeholders will definitely help the department become the number one department in the entire country," Pathak told PTI here.
Uttar Pradesh has a solar energy potential of 22,300MW, which the state intends to harness to meet the solar power generation target of 10,700MW fixed by Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), he said in an interview.

"Ever since the formation of the department of new and renewable energy (Vaikalpik Urja Vibhaag) in 1985, no attention was paid to it. The department was always considered as a vaikalpik (optional) one.
"But, now after the formation of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, the department has started getting its due importance, and we have already announced our new policy, Pathak said.
"The new policy of the department (Uttar Pradesh Solar Power Policy 2017) is available on the internet and anyone can go through it. The policy was made after serious deliberations with all stakeholders and incorporating their suggestions to the maximum possible extent," he said.

In a major relief to solar energy consumers, the minister said, "If anyone installs solar rooftop panels to produce electricity, then he has been exempted from taking a no- objection certificate. The earlier practice was that officials of power safety directorate would inspect and then give the NOC. We have ended the inspector raj.

The minister claimed that solar panels have been designed to provide uninterrupted power for 25 years and appealed to people to purchase such panels for enjoying uninterrupted power supply in their houses.
"We are not considering solar energy as an optional source of energy, but rather as one of the mainstream sources of energy," he said.

Another thing which has been done by this government is that the authorities will provide transmission lines up to 15 kilometres from solar energy plants of 50-150MW capacity, considering the fact that transmission is a costly affair for common people to bear, he said.