Thursday, September 12, 2013: If all goes well, Aurangabad is likely to get the status of a ‘model solar city’ soon. Some officials of the union ministry of new and renewable energy are planning to visit the city soon to explore whether the city is prepared to be declared as the ‘model solar city’.
According to a TOI report, Mayor Kala Oza said the ministry is willing to award project worth Rs 25 million to promote use of renewable energy sources and adoption of energy efficiency measures. The officials of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation ( AMC) met the union ministry of new and renewable energy recently and submitted a proposal of ‘Solar City’ project. It is worth mentioning here that the ministry has plans to invest Rs 50,00,000 under the ‘Solar City’ project. The idea behind the investment is to attain at least 10 per cent reduction in projected demand of conventional energy in five years.
Oza said, “While discussing the ‘Solar City’ project, joint secretary and director in the ministry – A K Tripathi had said the ‘Model Solar City’ project similar on the line projects approved for Nagpur and Chandigarh could be launched in Aurangabad.”
The solar city project is all about promoting the renewable energy-based options including solar, wind, biomass, small hydro, waste to energy, etc. The civic body is entrusted with this job along with the promotion of energy efficiency measures to bring down the conventional energy consumption level. This changes in the ‘model solar city’ projects as in this case, the ministry funds the setting up of power equipment based on renewable energy sources.
