By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 23, 2017: As part of the National Solar Mission, Odisha on Wednesday launched grid connected roof top solar programme to tap enormous renewable energy available in the state.

“At a time when Odisha is one of the foremost States who are preparing climate change action plan, rooftop solar projects will be well accepted by public”, Patnaik hoped.

While solar accounts for about 1.8 per cent of global electricity generation today, the International Energy Agency has predicted this could rise to 16 per cent by 2050 under a “high-growth scenario”, which would make it the largest source of energy in the world.

Experts feel that the state government should make mandatory for all new construction of office, residential and business and production places to install rooftop solar power facilities.

“This has two advantages. The cost of land disappears with rooftop solar. Moreover, since transmission lines between the power-source and power-use are extremely short, losses shrink and almost disappear”, they said.

The chief minister also launched a web platform www.rtsodisha.gov.in to help project stakeholders interact with consumers and provide services. This website created by Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) will be useful in making the Rooftop Solar Program easily accessible to the common citizens, said Patnaik.

The State government will provide 30 percent subsidy to the consumers belonging to residential and institutional segments as well as to registered societies and trusts. At present, current investment for installation of a rooftop project is around Rs 70,000 per KW.

Consumers can install small power plants on the rooftops and consume the generated power during the day time. It will also help people export excess power to the grid at 220V/440V levels through service cables and save energy.

The rooftop potential in Odisha has been estimated at 500 MW. For the current year a target of 8 MW has been fixed of which 4 MW has been exclusively assigned to Bhubaneswar.