JAMMU: Minister for Jal Shakti, Javed Ahmad Rana, said that J&K has an estimated hydro power potential of 18,000 MegaWatt (MW), of which, 14867 MW has been identified. The Minister was replying on behalf of the Chief Minister to a question raised by Mubarak Gul.
The Minister informed the House that the identified potential comprises 11283 MW in Chenab basin, 3084 MW in Jhelum basin and 500 MW in Ravi basin. He said that out of the identified potential, 3540.15 MW (23.81%) has been harnessed till date including 1197.4 MW in UT sector (JKSPDC), 2250 MW in Central sector (NHPC) and 92.75 MW in IPP mode under 31 projects.
Regarding the Solar Power Projects, the Minister said that solar power plants with capacity of 41367 and 34300 have been installed in a total of 4648 government buildings and 5463 residential households respectively.
The Minister said that UT of J&K has an estimated solar potential of 111 GW, most of which is restricted to the UT of Ladakh. He added that the mega size solar power projects have not been developed in J&K till date as identification of feasible land banks (500 acres for 100 MW solar park) at a single location for its development is difficult because of the topography of the UT.
The Minister informed that, however, a cumulative capacity of 75 MW of Rooftop Solar Power Plants has been installed in the UT of J&K across all sectors under various schemes and projects mostly sponsored by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), GoI.
He added that, presently, the Rooftop Solar Power plants are being installed on residential households by DISCOMS under PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojna in which 1 kWp Rs 55,000 with subsidy of Rs 36,000, 2 kWp Rs 1,10,000 with subsidy of Rs 72,000 and 3 kWp Rs 1,59,500 with subsidy of Rs 94,800 have been finalized.
The Minister also informed that Purchase of electric/utility poles, HT/LT wires and transformers is being made through the Procurement wing. MY Tarigami, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, Tanveer Sadiq, Shakti Raj Parihar and Mehraj Malik raised the supplementaries.
