Himachal Pradesh pitches itself as first green energy state by end of 2025

shimla: Aiming at preserving the environment, the new Congress government on Friday rolled out a plan to make Himachal Pradesh as the first green energy state by the end of 2025 by harnessing hydro, hydrogen and solar energy and switch over to green products which will enhance the premium and advantage in export.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who presided over a meeting of senior officers of energy department, directed all the concerned departments including HPSEBL, HIMURJA, Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) and the Department of Energy to make policy changes to achieve this goal. “Refurbishing of the present system is essential and the departments should focus on harnessing green energy in the best interest of the state,” he said and asked officials to ease the norms.

The chief minister has directed the officers to make necessary amendments in the existing power policy and open all the solar projects upto 5 MW capacity for allotment.

The state government would also invest in solar plants and will install 500 MW solar projects during the year 2023-24. Of this, 200 MW would be installed by HPPCL for which land has been identified for 70 MW capacity and the rest of the sites will be finalised soon.

Solar project upto 150 MW capacity would be installed by HIMURJA through private participation and priority would be given to Himachalis in awarding the these projects, said the Chief Minister. The capacity of the projects will range from 250 KW to 1 MW, he added.

In order to ensure that the state also gets some financial benefits, he directed HIMURJA to evolve a mechanism by seeking royalty of solar projects above 3 MW capacity.

In case of land being given to PSUs for developing solar projects, some percentage of land equity may be charged as well, he added.

Sukhu directed HIMURJA to ensure 5 per cent premium for the state in each solar power project up to 5 MW and 10 per cent share in the solar power projects of more than 5 MW capacity.

The Chief Minister asked HPPCL to expedite the incomplete power projects like Kashang II and III, Shongtong and Karchham. He stressed the need for fixing the timeline for each project and complete all these projects by 2025.

Sukhu also directed the HPPCL to appoint a consultant for the preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) within 10 days and also to submit the report within a month so that the work on the solar projects could be started.

The Department of Energy and HPPCL will identify sites in other states like Rajasthan where the land is available at discounted rates for installation of a mega solar plant.

Sukhu also reviewed the progress of Kishau Dam Project 660 (MW) where the water component was being financed by the Government of India and state in the ratio 90:10 respectively and the power component to be shared

50-50 by Himachal and Uttrakhand states.