The Central government is planning to make certain changes in its solar power schemes to promote creation of mini-grids, a senior government official today said. “Mini-grids will play a major role in the 12th Five Year Plan to achieve our solar power targets. We are in the process of brining out certain changes in the schemes for encouraging mini-grids,” Joint Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Tarun Kapoor told reporters on the sidelines of an Inter Solar Summit. The government has set itself a target of 20,000 MW of installed capacity of solar power by 2020.
Almost 180 megawatts of electricity you buy is now coming from solar energy sources. Of this, almost 148 megawatts were added to the country’s energy mix in the last one year alone, with no additional burden on the consumer’s pocket.
The average cost of electricity at the consumer end today is in the range Rs 4.5/ unit. On how the pricing works, the official said, according to the prescribed guidelines every megawatt of solar power is bundled with four units of power produced from conventional sources.
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