Badal Inaugurates Solar Power Plant

BEAS (Amritsar), May 17: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today dedicated the 'Single Rooftop Solar Power Plant' with capacity of 11.5 MW to the state here at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh of Radha Soami Sect.

Badal along with New and Renewable Energy Resources Minister Bikram Singh Majithia inaugurated Rs 139 crore project, spread over 82 acres of rooftop in single campus on multiple roofs.

The Chief Minister appreciated the feat of Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) to usher in a solar power revolution in the state.

He said Punjab s immense contribution to tap enormous power potential from various renewable energy resources was evident from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded Punjab for being one of the best performing States for capacity addition of Solar Energy during Re-Invest-2015.

Lauding the role of PEDA in making state self-sufficient in power generation through solar energy, Badal said that this project installed by the Radha Soami Satsang Beas Educational and Environmental Society (RSSBEES) with technical collaboration of PEDA would go a long way to motivate the other states for replication of such projects to provide clean and green energy to the consumers.

He reiterated his government s commitment to emerge Punjab as a front runner state in the solar generation in the near future.

Expressing gratitude to the revered Head, Radha Soami Satsang Beas Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon for taking personal initiative to bring Punjab on the World s map of solar energy through this solar power plant, Majithia said that Punjab, which was acclaimed as a harbinger of green revolution in India, was now on the threshold of bringing Solar Power Revolution .

Highlighting the significance of this solar power project at Dera Beas, Majithia said this project with enormous environmental friendly benefits would be instrumental in abatement of 4 lakh tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the next 25 years, which was equivalent to planting nearly 2 lakh trees.

He said that this project would generate clean and green energy sufficient to power approximately 8,000 homes.

Besides, this project would also go a long way in creating awareness about the eco-friendly solar power amongst the general public as one crore devotees visits the Dera Baba Jaimal Singh annually.

Majithia pointed out that the Centre has set a target of power generation of 40,000 MW from different resources of renewable energy to be achieved by 2022 and this project would be a role model to encourage other states to replicate such large rooftops on the building/sheds.

-PTI