Tuesday, July 30, 2013: The energy needs of Sewapuri block office of Varanasi district will be fulfilled by solar energy in the days to come. Within one month, Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) will set up a 10 KV solar plant in the block office premises. Raj Mani Pandey, Programme Officer, UPNEDA stated that the decision with respect to the solar plant was made in accordance with the direction of the District Magistrate, Pranjal Yadav.
The plant will provide electricity for running fans, lights and other necessary equipment in the block office and near by quarters. This is the first incidence that a block office of the district will be making use of solar energy to meet energy requirements. The cost of setting up the plant is Rs 18,00,000.
If everything functions smoothly, then the Circuit House will also have a solar energy plant for its energy requirements because the Varanasi office of UPNEDA has proposed to provide solar energy as the power alternative in the Circuit House premises. The proposal for providing a 100 KV solar energy plant in Circuit House has already been sent to the government, Pandey stated.
Another 5 KV solar plant is being set up at Kaithi area that costs Rs 8,00,000. Moreover, UPNEDA has set a target of installing 103 independent street lights and 360 street lights under project mode in Lohiya villages. “The Lohiya Awas will also be given electricity connection to run at least one fan and two lights via solar energy,” he informed.
“The scope for generation of wind energy, bio gas, and other renewable sources of energy is considerably less in Varanasi. However, the results of solar energy are far better due to the climatic conditions. We are promoting therefore the use of solar energy only at present,” Pandey added.
Educational establishments like Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and few schools are already using solar energy to meet basic energy requirements. With a view to increase the use of solar energy, government is offering special incentives on the use of solar energy products such as solar water heater and others. Solar power policy has been recently launched by the state government with the focus on harnessing solar energy in order to reduce the pressure on conventional energy resources.
