Government
of India had already planned to develop solar cities to cope up with the rapid
rising of the energy demand of cities, since rapid urbanization with economic
growth has increased the energy demand of cities. Accordingly, pollution is
drastically increasing in cities which are hazardous to human life. Such problems
have already been faced by developed countries like Australia and USA,
consequently they developed solar cities. Demand of Electricity has been
growing with the urbanization, electricity utilities experiencing problems in supplying
electricity demand of city, especially peak electricity demand.
Now, the Government strategy is to exploit all types
of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, small hydro, waste to
energy etc. Ultimately the aim is to reduce 10% demand of conventional energy
at the end of five years by utilizing local renewable energy available in the cities.
Solar resource is abundantly is available through the country and most of the
cities have good solar resource.
Government
wants to install solar PV plants on utility scale looking the cost economics
and to solve unemployment problem of the country. Limited land resource is a
major problem in the country; therefore, land bill could not be passed in
parliament. The only alternative remains with the Government to utilize roof of
buildings in cities to generate electricity and solve unemployment problem.
Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy has set to achieve the target 40 GW for solar
rooftop PV by 2022. Declaration of 50 solar cities by the Government of India
would add to the effort of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for
achieving the target 40 GW for solar rooftop PV by 2022. Such Government’s
effort would not reduce the gap between supply and demand of electricity but it
would also provide employment opportunities to the millions.
