West Bengal seems to be relying on Solar Energy as it has 1200 educational institutes with solar panels. Now the state government is going a step further by adding 1000 more institutes to the list.
“The solar electrification program will be taken forward in the near future”, said Power and Non-Conventional Energy Resources minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.
“A total of 21 megawatt power is now being generated via solar panels for use of those educational institutions”, Chattopadhyay said.
“These 1200 panels are producing 5 kilowatt to 20 kW electricity. Such solar panels will now be installed in 1000 more educational institutions within a year,” Chattopadhyay told reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Kolkata on Tuesday.
The minister further informed that his department was also setting up two pumped storage projects of 1000 MW 900 MW, harnessing hydel power, in different parts of Ayodhya Hills in Purulia district.
Claiming the rise I use of solar panels, he said, “When the Mamata Banerjee government came to power in 2011, there were only 85 lakh households using non-conventional electricity, which has now reached 1.85 crore”.