How much of power we consume by burning dirty coal can be saved? Turns out a lot. According to a new report, if roofs of all buildings within GHMC are covered with solar panels, the city can generate a whopping 1.76 Giga Watts (GW) of power. The city’s potential is only second to New Delhi which, under same conditions, can generate (2GW), followed by Mumbai (1.72GW) and Chennai (1.38GW).
This estimation was done in a new report released by Greenpeace in collaboration with Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute(GERMI) titled ‘Rooftop Revolution: Unleashing Hyderabad’s Solar Potential’. Though the idea of covering roofs of each and every building is not practical, Hyderabad has not achieved much when it comes to rooftop solar power generation.
The report says that total installed power generation capacity of Telangana through solar rooftops was a mere 54 MW till September 2017. Of this, 34 MW is in Hyderabad. This is way less compared to other some states like Karnataka (125MW), Tamil Nadu (191MW), Gujarat (103MW) and Punjab (73MW).
“Totally, there are 12 steps that anyone interested in setting up rooftop photovoltaic power station has to go through,” says Harsha Yadav, Co Founder of Zolt Energy. “They are cumbersome as you have to make multiple rounds to various offices in the power department. Many government officials refuse to respond in a timely manner. As per the policy, if a request for setting up of rooftop photovoltaic power station is not accepted by power department within 21 days, one can go ahead with the same. But in reality, no one would go ahead against the department,” he adds.
“India has a target of establishing power generation capacity of 40GW through RTPV by 2022. However, it’s likely to face a serious shortfall as till date only 1.8 GW has been installed,” says Akhilesh Magal of solar research wing at GERMI. Why is there a problem? “There is a lack of standardization of technologies in the RTPS sector. Also, a lack of awareness regarding RTPS and clarity on financing among the public,” he says. #KhabarLive