This story is from June 26, 2020

Five cities of UP to get green power booster

To promote green energy in the state, five cities of UP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s home district Gorakhpur, will be switched over to solar power completely. UP will be the first state in the country to promote solar power in such a big way.
Five cities of UP to get green power booster
Representative image
LUCKNOW: To promote green energy in the state, five cities of UP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s home district Gorakhpur, will be switched over to solar power completely. UP will be the first state in the country to promote solar power in such a big way.
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In the first phase, the green energy campaign would be launched in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Ayodhya and Mathura.
The ambitious project will be fully implemented by 2024 and for this a special drive will be launched by energy minister Shrikant Sharma soon.
Sharing the green, clean and cheap energy plan envisaged by the solar energy department, Sharma told TOI that after receiving the Centre's nod he would make UP a hub of solar energy. The special drive for the five cities is being launched under the existing solar rooftop scheme of the Union government. A consumer having a solar rooftop plant of one kW would save at least Rs 10,000 a year, claimed Sharma and added if majority of consumers would switch over to solar energy the government would save power subsidy of crores of rupees and this amount would be diverted to the industrial and commercial sectors. When the solar energy plan would be fully implemented in the five cities it would save 1,000 million units of power in the state,” he added.
“A major achievement of green energy is that it helps in checking pollution levels in cities,” the energy minister said and added that no other state has started the solar energy campaign in such a big way in the country so far. The minister explained that so far the rooftop solar plant scheme is optional, but in order to completely shift to solar energy, a special campaign would be launched to apprise people of the benefits of solar power. The government would also give subsidies and lucrative offers to interested persons, he added.
“In the first phase we will try to shed the thermal energy completely in the five cities,” claimed the minister. It would also help UPPCL in arresting the spike in transmission and distribution losses, he added.
During the lockdown, Sharma has introduced various reforms in the power sector, including categorising feeders in red, orange and green categories on the basis of transmission and distribution losses. From chairman of UPPCL to a junior engineer all have been made accountable for containing mounting losses by declaring themselves as guardians of feeders. He has issued directives for giving 24-hour power to villages which have recorded decline in transmission and distribution losses and to launch a special drive to identify fake consumers estimated to be over 20 lakhs in the state.
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