Places of religious importance in UP to have solar power

Lucknow: Cities having religious significance, including Ayodhya, Mathura, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur, will have clean and green energy by 2024.

Uttar Pradesh Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma has said that these cities would get around 670 MW solar energy from solar panels to be installed on rooftops of the houses.

To meet the target, the Central and the state governments will be providing subsidies of Rs 859 crores and Rs 473 crores respectively to the consumers.

Sharma said the energy department was saving Rs 1,363 crore through the implementation of the 'Ujala' scheme under which it has distributed 2.62 crore LED bulbs to the power consumers.

The Minister claimed that the energy department was saving at least 3,400 million units of power through energy conservation measures.

He said the power demand has reduced by 682 MW in the peak hours while the carbon emission has reduced by 2.76 million tonnes.

Sharma said the state government was working towards making 12 lakh tube wells energy efficient. This, he said, would help the government to save 400 crore units of power.

In the first phase, 9,000 pumps are being made energy efficient. Under the KUSUM scheme, around 26,000 private tube wells have been made solar powered.

The government, he said, had also come up with the PM-KUSUM scheme under which farmers can install solar plants of 500 KW to 2 MW capacity on their barren land.

He said the state government was promoting solar power by ensuring installation of the rooftop solar power panels in all the government buildings.