Telangana plans to double solar power generation by 2023

Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy said the State government has plans to generate 6,246 MW of solar power by 2023, almost double the current installed capacity of 3,913 MW.

“As part of these efforts, solar power generation through installation of rooftop panels in government offices is being promoted extensively. Already, the project to generate rooftop solar power generation has begun in some government offices in Hyderabad,” the Minister said during Question Hour in the Assembly here on Friday.

In addition to these, some schools and social welfare hostels were also generating solar power, the Minister said, and appealed to MLAs and MLCs to promote solar power in public schools across the State. “Since it is mandatory for MLAs to spend 40 per cent of Constituency Development Funds, it will be wise if they spend their funds on this cause,” Jagadish Reddy said.

Pointing out that disposal of waste was a global challenge, he



said the State government was ready to promote power generation from waste. Despite many enthusiasts coming forward to execute such projects, the results were not to the desired levels. So far, 19.05 MW of power was being generated from waste at Jawahar Nagar in Hyderabad, he informed the House.

The Minister said the government would offer incentives, if domestic consumers come forward to generate solar power through roof top installations. The subsidy offered for zero to three kilowatts generation is 40 per cent and for 3 to 10 kilowatts, 20 per cent, he said.

The Minister said a policy was already in place permitting domestic consumers to supply additional power to the grid, excluding the electricity consumed by them through rooftop power generation. He said that conditions in the State were not conducive for wind power generation and the current installed capacity of wind power generation in the State was 128 MW.