January 23, 2024
NEW DELHI – Hours after opening a gigantic Ram temple in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’, a major initiative towards achieving India’s renewable energy target of 500 GW by 2030.
As part of the new initiative, solar panels will be installed on the roof tops of one crore houses with an aim to make India self-reliant in the energy sector.
“The first decision I have taken after returning from Ayodhya is that our government will launch “Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana” with the target of installing rooftop solar on 1 crore houses. This will not only reduce the electricity bill of the poor and middle class, but will also make India self-reliant in the energy sector,” PM Modi wrote on ‘X’.
The prime minister said devotees of the world get energy form the light of Suryavanshi Lord Shri Ram and the consecration ceremony of his temple further strengthened his resolution that people of the country should have their own solar roof top system.
“All the devotees of the world always get energy from the light of Suryavanshi Lord Shri Ra. Today, on the auspicious occasion of consecration in Ayodhya, my resolution got further strengthened that the people of India should have their own solar roof top system on the roof of their houses,” Modi said.
According to a report, India is a power surplus nation with a total installed electricity capacity of over four lakh MW.
India is currently the world’s third largest producer of renewable energy, behind only to the US and the China.
Around 40 per cent of India’s total installed electricity capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources.
As of September 2022, India produced 40.55 GW energy from solar, 40.03 GW from wind, 4.83 GW from small hydro, 46.51 GW from large hydro, 10.62 GW from biopower.
India has set a target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and the ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’ could prove to be a milestone in achieving this.