MANIPUR: MORE FUNDS FOR SOLAR POWER GENERATION

11 July 2018:

Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar Singh has said that he will urge 15th Finance Commission to allocate more funds for solar power generation in the state, he mentioned at the inaugural functions of Grid Connected Roof Top Solar power Plant of 5 KW each installed at Epathoukok Cultural Complex, Lamphelpat and Samadon Shanglen at Uripok Ningthoukhongjam Leikai in Imphal today.

The Deputy Chief Minister said Manipur falls under tropical climatic conditions where sunlight is adequately available throughout the year. There is a huge potential of solar power generation in the state and therefore a proposal will be made in this regard and will pursue to the 15th Finance Commission to allocate more funds.

Joykumar Singh said,solar power generation is a renewable and useful concept rather than conventional power sources like thermal and nuclear which are non-renewable and hazardous to our environment. Solar power generation can be developed in large scale in the state as it is cheap and freely available. Manipur has been experiencing huge demand of power consumption from time to time and it will increase further. The share of power from Loktak Hydro Electric Project alone cannot meet the requirements. The Government has been spending more than 400 crores of rupees annually in purchasing power from power grids. In such a situation, the only way out to meet the requirement would be to generate solar power in large scale so that our requirements can be made available and also excess energy can also be sold even to neighbouring countries like Myanmar.

Maintaining that almost all areas under Uripok Assembly Constituency will be covered under the scheme, Deputy Chief Minister said, 45 sites, mostly public places like Community Halls, Club buildings and Cultural Complexes have been identified and 33 power plants have been installed and started generation and the remaining installations works will be completed latest by this week. He appealed people to cooperate with the initiative so that an efficient and environment friendly power generation can be made to ensure a developed and prosperous state.