GUWAHATI, June 9 ? The Union Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) is considering provision of 90 per cent Central fund for electrifying all the villages of NE region by the end of 2012 under a Government of India proposal. The Union Government proposal is so formulated that all the villages in the country will be touched by the end of the Tenth Five Year Plan and all the houses in the rural areas will be electrified by the Eleventh Five Year Plan.
Under the proposal, funds to the other States will be provided on 50:50 basis, while the NE States are sought to be provided the funds on 90:10 basis. Disclosing this, sources in the Assam Energy Development Agency (AEDA) said that each of NE States, including Assam, had been drawing up plans in a strategic manner to meet the targets.
The Union Government?s proposal has sought to electrify the villages through the conventional mode, i.e., through electricity from the grid or otherwise, from the decentralised sources like solar power, bio-mass gasification, wind energy or small hydro plants, depending on the prevailing condition in the villages, said the sources.
The MNES has, under the plan, proposed to term a village electrified only when 60 per cent of its households is provided with a power source from any of the renewable energy modes, the sources said.
In the State, the sources said, citing a preliminary study conducted by the State Electricity Board, 2,800 villages were found to be in remote and inaccessible locations. For these villages, there is no alternative to provide electricity, particularly for lighting, except from the power generated locally, either from solar, small hydro or similar non-conventional sources.
Considering this, it is an utmost necessity that the local technocrats and entrepreneurs should come forward to meet this challenging task with zealous enterprise. This will also help in managing the projects with local expertise in the coming days and will also open up avenues for employment in the State, the sources said. It is also a need of the hour that the State Government should formulate and spell out its policy for generation, distribution and sale of power by the private entrepreneurs, said the sources.
Significantly, a few corporate sectors in the State have the capacity to generate power beyond their requirement. A well spelt-out power policy will encourages them to provide this surplus power to the needy people, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the MNES has sanctioned five district-level Aditya solar shops for the districts of Nagaon, Kamrup, Cachar, Sivasagar and Karbi Anglong with a monetary sanction of Rs 50,000 for each of the shops. Each of the shops will require between Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh. Rest of the investment will have to be made by the proposer entrepreneurs or societies. The project is being implemented through ADEA/Assam Science, Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC). Another proposal for four such shops in Morigaon, Kokrajhar, Jorhat and Bongaigaon is also under active consideration of the MNES, the source said.
These shops will help the people of the respective districts to derive the benefit of renewable energy and energy conservation system or gadgets easily. The shops will also provide services, annual maintenance contracts, spares, etc., for different related systems/gadgets to ensure taking the non-conventional energy concept to the door steps of the people in the State, said the sources.