While Bihar has been grabbing the limelight for its clean energy distribution, Uttar Pradesh has gradually gone about its business and is quickly becoming a hotbed for distributed solar activity.
OMC and Mera Gao are two companies that have been pivotal in providing solar mini-grid models. These models have caught the eye of the UP government, which recently announced a 1 GW solar policy. According to OMC estimates, it takes 30 days to complete a new plant from start to finish, while, on the other hand, a new coal plant takes 5 to 7 years to complete, which costs billions.
The company is directly linked with job creation and 10 to 15 people are hired per solar station. They have built five separate 9-18 Kw solar stations out of which, only one is operational and plan to reach 350 plants in 2013. Similar to OMC’s model, is Mera Gao’s ‘mini’, mini-grids. Mera Gao has set up its watt scale mini-grids, in the range of 240 Watts, which are installed in a single day on individual rooftops. The most productive part about the model, is its high efficient LED light which significantly reduces the size of all other components of the system.
