KOCHI: Solar power has steadily been becoming a major energy source in the State, Minister for Power Aryadan Mohammed said here on Sunday. He was speaking after inaugurating the rooftop solar net metering at Cochin Dental Clinic at Komabara. “We are lagging behind the other states in terms of power production. Hence, the government has designed a project to install rooftop panels in 10,000 houses, with capacity to produce one KW of power. Under the scheme, each household will be granted a subsidy of `92,000. The government is planning to implement the project in 12,000 households this year, with the help of solar power grids. We have launched grid solar power generation projects at selected colleges and hospitals. The KSEB will buy the excess power generated by the households and institutions,” he said.
At present, the State requires 3,700 MW of electricity every fiscal year, while the production is only 1,700 MW. As per estimates, the State’s requirement will go up to 4,700 MW by 2017. The government has identified 1,000 acres of land in Kasargod to launch a project to generate 4,000 MW of electricity annually.
Dominic Presentation MLA, Ernakulam deputy chief electrical inspector K P Raghavan, CDC chairman George Mathew and other officials concerned also attended the function.