The Madhya Pradesh Government will confer Vinoba Bhave International Award on a country for its outstanding work in promoting solar pumps. Chief Minister Kamal Nath informed this while addressing the foundation laying ceremony for a 650 KW solar plant at the Central Academy for Police Training at Bhopal on Friday.

 

 

Addressing the gathering, Kamal Nath recalled the global Earth Summit at Rio 27 years ago, he said that rising temperature is the biggest environment problem. He said that as Union Minister for Environment, he advocated the use of renewable energy and also set up a Fund for this. Today, it has gained significance. The Chief Minister said that solar energy sector remained unnoticed by 2002. Power generation from solar power plants was expensive. The scenario has changed today. Today, the plant which is being set up at the Police Academy will generate power at the negligible rate. A revolution is being witnessed in solar energy sector. Now, the major challenge is the storage of solar energy. The Government is working on this. The massive unused fallow land could be used for this, he added. The Chief Minister said that solar energy will be used in the rural areas on a massive scale especially in agricultural sector. It is the Government’s initiative to optimally utilise non-conventional energy in the agriculture sector so that the cost of cultivation could be managed and burden on environment could be reduced.

 

 

Kamal Nath also underlined employment potential in renewable energy sector. He said that this sector has potential to increase economic activities, which will ultimately provide employment, he added.MP to Install 2 lakh solar pumps: Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Harsh Yadav said that under the guidance of the Chief Minister, the department is witnessing change in respect of vision, approach and strategies. Guided by the Chief Minister, the Department is taking up solar project in 20 blocks along with installing 2 lakh solar pumps. This will change the scenario. Yadav informed that the government is giving 60 percent subsidy on solar pumps. The Central Government has also been urged to increase the present 30 per cent subsidy to 45 per cent. The World Bank representative and Director General International Solar Alliance, Upendra Tripathi appreciated the decision of the Chief Minister to promote solar pumps. Tripathi hoped that this will certainly bring about encouraging results with the state’s commitment, Saving of Rs 57 lakh: The 650 kw solar plant coming up at the Central Academy of Police Training is expected to produce about 9.50 lakh units annually. The Academy will save around Rs 57 lakh in the first year itself. The Principal Secretary, New and Renewable Energy, Manu Shrivastava informed about the policy initiatives. The Director General of Police, V K Singh was present.