U.P. to generate 16 GW solar power in five years

• The UP government recently unveiled the draft of its Solar Energy Policy-2022, which suggests that the State would be targeting generation of 16,000 Mega Watt of renewable power by 2026-27.

The Policy

• Released by the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA).
• The government has proposed to meet the ambitious 16,000 MW target by generating
• 4,000 MW from solar rooftop projects,
• 2,000 MW from distributed solar generation
• 10,000 MWfrom utility/grid scale solar projects and solar parks.

Proposed initiatives

• The government would develop 20 solar cities covering 10 lakh households with rooftop installations.
• The cities include Meerut, Varanasi, Bareilly, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Mirzapur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Ghaziabad, Jhansi, Muzaffarnagar, Mathura, Azamgarh, Ayodhya and Aligarh.
• Rooftop solar installations in government buildings and in 21,000 unelectrified primary schools.

Prelims Take Away

• India’s Renewabl;e Energy Targets
• Solar power Projects
• Initiatives for Renewable energy