Wednesday, March 05, 2014: The Jammu and Kashmir government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), for solar power projects in the Kargil and Ladakh regions of the state. The MoU accords for a total capacity of 7,500 MW.
The solar power projects of a capacity of 5,000 MW will be established in Ladakh and 2,500 MW in Kargil. These projects are expected to possess large potential for new and renewable energy in the state. However, in a recent CSE report, the north-most state accounted for less than 1 MW of solar power capacity.
The MoU was signed between joint secretary, MNRE, Tarun Kapoor, and J&K state commissioner secretary, Science and Technology, Bipul Pathak on behalf of the two parties. The meeting was chaired by Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah, in Jammu.
According to an Outlook report, Abdullah highlighted the importance of MoU between the state and the central government, as a way to harness of green energy from the Ladakh area, since it is rich in solar power potential. Ladakh houses a potential of 30,000 MW of solar energy, as suggested by the minister.
The government of India has opened a target generation of new and renewable energy to produce 1,00,000 MW of power, through non-conventional resources of energy, in the country by 2022.
