Administrative Council approves solarization of Government buildings

Srinagar, July 28: The Administrative Council, which met here under chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved solarizing of all government buildings in Jammu & Kashmir by installation of Grid-Tied Rooftop solar power systems of an aggregate capacity of 70 MW in Capex mode at a project cost of Rs 400 crore and 200 MW in RESCO mode.

The project shall be implemented by Jammu & Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JKEDA).

The Government buildings shall be installed with Rooftop Solar Projects of different capacities aimed at leveraging the vast rooftop spaces of government establishments for solar energy generation. These solar power systems shall be having bi-directional smart meters and the Virtual Net Metering (VNM) benefit would be provided by the DISCOMs to adjust the additional energy generated by the solar panels at a particular site against the other electrical connections of different buildings of the same department. The project is expected to be completed by end of December 2025 and shall subsequently be maintained free of cost for a period of five years by JAKEDA through the empanelled vendors.

The project sites which would be developed under RESCO mode through Solar Power Developers shall have to execute Power Purchase Agreements for a period of 25 years with the respective departments on the tariff to be determined through bidding process.

With implementation of the project, the reduction in carbon emission by installing 270 MW Solar Power Plants will be around 8.3 million tons over a period of 25 years. More than 10,800 jobs shall be created by implementing this project for highly skilled, skilled and unskilled personnel. A number of additional job roles will be created by solar PV grid-connected projects in secondary and tertiary segments vis-à-vis manufacturing and supply of system equipment such as inverters, cables, trackers, and other parts.

The AC meeting chaired by the LG was also attended by Advisor to LG Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and Principal Secretary to LG Mandeep K Bhandari.

It was decided in the meeting to accelerate deployment of Rooftop Solar Projects across all government owned buildings in J&K.