Odisha has started India’s first grid connected solar rooftop project. Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (GEDCOL) and the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU), in partnership with Azure Power, will be implement the program across 100 government buildings in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. Investment for the project has been sourced from private sector and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. International Finance Corporation and European Union (through EU-India Cooperation on Clean Technologies and Energy Efficiency for Eco-Cities) have assisted GEDCOL in program design.
Prominent institutions in Patna have committed nearly 45 lakh square feet of their rooftop space for solar power generation under an initiative launched by Centre for Environment and Energy Development. This space will be adequate for installing about 30 MW capacity of solar PV systems. In response to a drive by. The campaign to popularize solar rooftop systems has garnered support from several prominent citizens of the city including Anand Kumar (Super 30), Bijender Prasad (Bihar energy minister) and institutions like Khuda Baksh Library and Gandhi Sanghrahalya.
Solar Energy Corporation of India has published the draft grid connected rooftop solar PV scheme for government buildings. 1 GW capacity of solar PVs will be installed under the scheme. Both CAPEX and RESCO models will be available under the scheme. List of eligible government buildings will be provided by SECI. No single bidder will be allocated more than 40% of the state’s total capacity.
The draft scheme can be accessed at:
State government of Maharashtra has made it mandatory for all new government buildings in the state to follow green building concepts. New administrative, residential and commercial are covered under this directive. The state PWD has asked its officials to prepare designs that confirm to green building design principles.
US government and Ministry of Science and Technology, along with private sector partners, will invest an additional 30 million USD over the next 5 years in the existing Partnership to Accelerate Clean Energy – Research (PACE-R) program. Additional investment will be available exclusively for research on energy storage and smart grid technologies. Existing research areas under PACE-R are building energy efficiency, solar energy and bio-fuels.
PACE program was launched in 2009 by US and Indian governments to support research and deployment of clean energy technologies. It has three components: deployment (PACE-D), research (PACE-R) and access (PEACE).
