The Punjab government’s initiatives to harness maximum solar and biomass potential in the state got big boost when an Italian Solar engineering company Solesa evinced keen interest in setting up a roof top solar photovoltaic power plant here.This commitment was made during a meeting between Italian Ambassador Mr. Daniele Mancini led delegation of Solar and Biomass power companies and Punjab Non Conventional & Renewable Energy Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia held here during Progressive Punjab Investment Summit. Briefing about the initiatives as well as commitment of the Punjab government to promote clean & renewable energy Mr. Majithia revealed about the achievements on Solar and Biomass power fronts besides the available opportunities keeping in view the strong agrarian base of the state. He pointed out that Punjab has so far harnessed total 569MW in the Renewable Energy Sector in the state out of which 134MW in Small / Mini Hydel, 62.5MW in Biomass Power (IPP), 362 MW in Co-generation and 10.5MW in Solar Photovoltaic Power sectors. Under the NRSE Policy-2012, target for Solar Power is 1000 MW by 2022. Besides this, 400 MW small/mini/micro hydel and 50 MW of Waste to Energy power projects have been planned. The State has set a target of 300 MW power through Biomass power plants in next three years and 29 sites have already been identified for this purpose. Mr. Majithia further said that PEDA has recently handed over approval letters for 250 MW Solar power projects with investment of Rs. 2500-3000 crore. He informed that the state government was now further focusing on tapping the solar photovoltaic power roof top potential in the state and a major exercise has already been completed regarding availability of roof tops of government buildings having joint power generation capacity of 40 MW.
Italian Ambassador Mr. Daniele Mancini said that their country was committed to promote clean and green energy and it was leading the world in harnessing solar power potential as 7 percent of total power requirements of the country were being meted by Solar and mainly through roof top solar power projects. He informed that Italian solar and biomass power generation companies were excited to invest in Punjab. He also offered technical expertise in the fields of solar and biomass power.Taking part in the deliberation, Mr. Steffano Fissolo, Executive Director, Solesa Solar Engineers evinced keen interest in setting up a roof top solar photovoltaic power plant in the state. The Minister informed the delegation after successful bidding of solar and biomass power plants having joint production capacity of 600 MW power, the Punjab Energy Development Agency was all set to bid out the roof top solar photovoltaic power projects within a short span of one month.Mr. Anirudh Tiwari, Secretary Non Conventional Energy, Mr. Balore Singh, Director PEDA and Mr.Gaurav Sood, Head (Corp. Solutions), New Holland were also present in the meeting.