New Delhi, March 9: India may be ?shining? but the Northeast is not. Actually, it rarely does and this admission has come right from the Centre. The ministry of non-conventional energy sources has turned down proposals for over 800 solar photovoltaic projects, saying that ?the sun hardly shines for more than 100 days in a year in the region?.
The Northeast receives the highest amount of rainfall every year and Mawsynram near Cherrapunjee has been identified as the wettest place on earth. However, there is no silver lining on this cloud.
According to an official of the ministry, norms stipulate a minimum of 250 days of sunshine in a year for successful implementation of the scheme. ?Desert conditions are suitable, which means Rajasthan, Gujarat and some northern parts of the country are fit. But in the Northeast, there are hardly 100 days of sunshine,? he added.
The ministry had received more than 800 proposals from Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur for setting up solar photovoltaic and micro hydel projects.
In a solar photovoltaic project, sunlight is allowed to fall on a silicon panel, which is then converted into electricity. Upto 18 kW of power can be generated from each scheme, but they are regarded unsuitable for the region as the cost of production is around Rs 3 lakh per kW which is much higher than other non-conventional forms like a small hydel or bio-mass project.
Begun in the mid-Seventies, the solar photovoltaic programme of the country is one of the largest in the world. The primary role assigned to the ministry was to reach remote villages of the country where connection from the main grid is either unsustainable or expensive.
Initially, in the Northeast, solar projects were also entertained as an option in addition to small hydel and biomass schemes. ?A few solar projects are still being implemented, but the ones commissioned have reported unsatisfactory performance. Hence our decision to encourage the other options,? the official said.
The ministry provides financial assistance upto 90 per cent for undertaking village electrification programme through non-conventional energy sources. During the ninth plan, a total allocation of Rs 90.38 crore was made for the region against which an expenditure of Rs 128.39 crore was incurred.
Generation of power through non-conventional sources has a significance for the Northeast in that they are less polluting and remote villages that cannot be connected with the main grid can be equipped with these schemes. In fact, the ministry had estimated that 3,943 of the over 7,500 non-electrified villages are remote and non-feasible for grid power and 81.54 per cent of the 47.04 lakh households in the region have no electricity.
State nodal agencies are also operational in every state since 1998 to strengthen the planning, implementation and monitoring of renewable energy programmes in the eight states, an official said.