Solar Green Cities

5 Feb. - Gurgaon and Faridabad Cities of Haryana havebeen selected for development as Solar/Green Cities under the schemeof Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India.While disclosing this here today, a spokesman of the Renewable EnergyDepartment said that approval in principle for the Gurgaon City hadalready been received and approval for Faridabad City was to bereceived soon from the Ministry.Giving the details of the Programme, he said that Ministry of New &Renewable Energy, Govt. of India had introduced a new programme of"Development of Solar Cities" during the 11th Plan period with theobjective to enable/empower Urban Local Governments to address energychallenges at city level. Under the programme, a total of 60 citieshaving population between 5 lakh to 50 lakh were proposed to besupported for development as solar/green cities during the 11th Planperiod, out of which approval in principle for 15 cities includingGurgaon City had already been accorded by the Ministry.
He said that the project aimed at minimum 10 per cent reduction inprojected demand of conventional energy at the end of five years,which can be achieved through a combination of energy efficiencymeasures and enhancing supply from Renewable Energy Sources. Under the programme, Urban Local Governments would be assisted for preparationof master plan for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energysupply in the City, setting up institutional arrangements for theimplementation of master plan and awareness generation and capacitybuilding activities including setting up of Solar City Cell in theCity Council for planning and implementation.
The project also aimedto include the proposals for carbon financing also.He said that for this programme, the Ministry would provide financialassistance of Rs. 50 lakh per city i.e Rs. 10 lakh for preparation ofMaster Plan, Rs. 10 lakh for setting up of Solar Cell and itsfunctioning for five years, Rs. 10 lakh for implementation during fiveyears and remaining Rs. 20 lakh for other promotional activities.
The financial assistance for installation of various renewable energy andenergy conservation systems/projects would also be availed from theongoing schemes of the Ministry.

The spokesman said that the first step under this project would be toprepare the five years Master Plan having energy base line for theseCities including sector-wise energy consumption matrix and energysupply mix for the base year for all the sectors i.e residential,industrial, commercial and institutional sector, municipal sector anddemand forecasting for next five years. In this plan, sector-wisestrategies would be prepared for energy efficiency and to maximize theuse of renewable energy with the involvement of local stakeholders.
He said that for this activity, the consultant would be hired toobtain the secondary data from the various sources besides conductingsurvey about present fuel consumption in various sectors, informationon energy appliances/equipments, energy performance or efficiency ofutilization, consumption patterns and consumer preferences, experiencewith use of renewable energy systems and design and constructionpractices for different type of buildings having an impact on energyconsumption. In this Master Plan, the energy demand for next five andten years upto the year 2018 would be predicted keeping in view thegrowth in energy use in different sectors.He said that before finalization, the Master Plan would be discussedin a stakeholder consultation workshop having representation fromelected representatives, local research and academic institutions,resident welfare associations, industries and corporate organizationsand NGOs, etc.