The Puducherry government has set a target of developing 225 MW of renewable energy by the end of 2026. To achieve this goal, the city administration is actively promoting the widespread adoption of rooftop solar installations on residential buildings.
The government has proposed to cover 50,000 households with rooftop solar panels from January 2024 to December 2024. This drive will be in addition to the solar installations on government buildings.
Puducherry has an installed solar capacity of 48.29 MW currently. Solar has been installed on 585 buildings, including 382 residential buildings (2 MW), 38 Government buildings (5 MW), and 165 other installations (40 MW).
“Based on the total rooftop area in the U.T., it is estimated that it would be feasible to install rooftop solar in around 1.5 lakh residential buildings, aggregating to a capacity of 225 MW by December 2026. The proposed targets and installed capacity will amount to 398 MW, constituting 73% of the total peak demand (540 MW) of the U.T.” stated a senior official.
As per official sources, the Puducherry government has also proposed a subsidy of ₹9,000 per KW to encourage rooftop solar adoption. This subsidy will be in addition to the hiked Central Financial Assistance being provided by the MNRE.
The Puducherry government will be investing around ₹172 crore to provide this financial incentive.
Additionally, the union territory has installed solar panels on 38 government buildings so far. Moreover, the government has identified 852 state and central government buildings where rooftop solar panels can be set up.
The city plans to cover all government buildings through the RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company) model by December 2025.
Not just Puducherry, but several Indian cities have launched similar campaigns. Varanasi has planned to install rooftop solar in 25,000 homes in the next 2 months. Moreover, Indore is all set to solarize 30,000 homes in the next 3 months.
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