Foundation stone laid for solar plant in Bengal

Asansol: Mr Mrinal Banerjee, West Bengal Minister for Power, laid the foundation stone of a 2-MW solar power plant. West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd, along with DPSC Ltd, is setting up the country’s first grid connected solar power plant at Asansol in Burdwan district.

The project is expected to be completed by December 2008. The power from the 2-MW plant, to be generated to the extent of 3 million units annually, will be fed into the DPSC grid directly.

This will be the first large size solar power plant in the country, the estimated cost of which is about Rs 40 crore. WBGEDCL will execute the project and the entire power will be purchased by DPSC.

It is estimated that India can generate 6,00,000 MW of electricity from the sun, which is enough to supply the entire need of the country in 2030.

However, use of solar energy in India is still insignificant. Only recently has the Government of India decided to install 50 MW solar power plants in the country by 2010.