Renewable ENERGY: central government disbursed Rs. 600 cr for schemes’ promotion in Haryana

An acute shortage of energy resources in Haryana has been arising due to the huge gap between demand and supply. Due to increase in economic activities, increase in demand for electricity is also inevitable. Like most states, Haryana is highly dependent on thermal and coal-fired plants. Due to high demand for electricity during the summer season, coal-fired plants face shortage of stock which is a matter of serious concern. In a bid to deal with this problem, state government is trying out new options and apart from this, the central government has released huge amounts in order to promote substitutes of traditional sources of the energy.

In the last five years, the Centre has released incentives worth Rs 600 crore for the promotion of rooftop PM Kusum and solar parks schemes. Apart from having very limited hydropower production capacity and much short land, the state’s average wind speed is inadequate for power generation. Despite the fact that the intensity of the sun is quite high, the lack of land area discourages widespread use of energy resources and electricity. As a result, the state has been dependent on its little installed thermal generation capacity as well as hydropower from jointly organized projects.

In wake of limited sources and certain limitations, under Pradhan Mantri Kusum Yojana, Haryana Government has taken steps to reduce the farming expenses of farmers under the Solar Pump Subsidy Scheme where connections have been started on ‘’ first come first serve policy’’. In order to get rid of charges being spent on diesel, farmers are also taking full advantage of its commencement . Those taking advantage of the scheme no longer have to burn expensive diesel to irrigate their fields.

Under this scheme, an amount of about Rs 520 crore has been spent in a period of five years. Notably, till the month of November in the year 2023, an incentive amount of about Rs 170 crore was disbursed. Earlier, an amount of Rs 161.12 crore was released in the year 2021-22 while an amount of Rs 137.95 crore and Rs 51.33 crore was disbursed in 2022-23 and 2020-21 respectively. It is pertinent to mention that tube well irrigation puts a huge financial burden on the farmer’s pocket. So in such a situation, the farmer has to spend a sizable chunk of money on irrigation.

Besides, the information received revealed that solar energy options are also being encouraged. In the year 2019-20, an amount of more than Rs 10 crore has been released by the Center in this regard. Apart from this, an amount of Rs 10.43 crore was released in 2021-22 and Rs 6.26 crore in 2021 22. In the year 2022-2023, an incentive amount of Rs 10.9 crore was released in this regard.