J&K admin approves Rs 400 crore rooftop solar project for govt buildings

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Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday approved a Rs 400 crore project under which grid-tier rooftop solar power systems will be installed on all government buildings in the union territory.

"The Administrative Council, which met here under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, approved solarizing of all government buildings in Jammu and Kashmir by installation of Grid-Tied Rooftop solar power systems of an aggregate capacity of 70 MW in Capex mode at a project cost of Rs 400 crore and 200 MW in RESCO mode," an official spokesman said.

He said the project shall be implemented by Jammu & Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JKEDA).

The government buildings shall be installed with Rooftop Solar Projects of different capacities aimed at leveraging the vast rooftop spaces of government establishments for solar energy generation, the spokesman said.

These solar power systems shall have bi-directional smart meters and the Virtual Net Metering (VNM) benefit would be provided by the DISCOMs to adjust the additional energy generated by the solar panels at a particular site against the other electrical connections of different buildings of the same department.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of December 2025 and shall subsequently be maintained free of cost for five years by JAKEDA through the empanelled vendors.

The project sites developed under RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company) mode through Solar power developers shall have to execute power Purchase Agreements for 25 years with the respective departments on the tariff to be determined through a bidding process.

With the implementation of the project, the reduction in carbon emissions by installing 270 MW Solar Power Plants will be around 8.3 million tons over a period of 25 years. More than 10,800 jobs shall be created by implementing this project for highly skilled, skilled and unskilled personnel, the spokesman said.

He said several additional job roles would be created by solar PV grid-connected projects in secondary and tertiary segments along with the manufacturing and supply of system equipment such as inverters, cables, trackers, and other parts.