Friday, May 18, 2013: UT Adviser, KK Sharma urged the industry to come forward and assist the administration to make Chandigarh a model solar city by creating modern, cost-effective and safe solar systems.
“The industry’s role is key in harnessing solar energy to the fullest. It should come forward and manufacture the latest solar equipment, most advanced panels and latest systems,” said K K Sharma, the adviser to the Administrator during a seminar on ‘Harvesting the Sun’. The event was organised jointly by Chandigarh Administration and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday.
“There should be a sense of urgency in utilisation of the solar energy because it is environment friendly, prevents global warming and reduces burden on non-renewable resources of energy. It is most important in present times considering 20-30 per cent rise in residential power demand and 15-20 per cent rise in industrial demand each year in India,” KK Sharma said. Chandigarh Administration offers a 30 per cent subsidy on solar power generation. Even the neighbouring states -Punjab and Haryana are interested to produce solar power.
“In the coming years, solar energy is going to be part of everybody’s life. It is a matter of pride that Chandigarh is acting as a torchbearer when it comes to solar power generation. We need to work towards increasing its affordability,” said Man Mohan Singh, Chairman, CII.
Pikender Pal Singh, the regional director of CII said, “In Chandigarh, we should notify the policy for net metering to encourage roof top installations, encourage telecom companies to use solar energy to power towers, integrate solar power generation with Chandigarh Metro Project in the tricity and make it a part of the DPR, so that it becomes one project”.
