Ranchi: Centre for Environment & Energy Development (CEED) and Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA) on Friday jointly organised a consultation workshop ‘Energising Access in Jharkhand: Stakeholder Consultation for Mini Grid Policy’ .
The event was attended by key stakeholders representing several government departments and agencies, renewable energy developers, think tanks, academia, industry and civil society organisations. The draft ‘Jharkhand State Policy for Promotion of Mini and Micro Grid-2021’ has a vision for ‘Energy Access to all’ and it focuses on the development of mini and micro-grids powered by various renewable energy sources in unserved and under-served parts of the state with an objective to meet the growing demand of power in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr KK Verma, Director, JREDA said that the State government is committed to support mini and micro grid operations powered by renewable energy throughout the state. The draft policy has a provision for installation of Mini grid projects of 1 kWp to 500 kWp capacities and various hybrid models using a combination of renewable sources such as solar, biomass and hydro, etc. can be deployed through government subsidy or private or community funded projects with ‘Build Own Operate and Maintain/Build Own Operate, Maintain and Transfer’ (BOOM/BOOMT) basis. JREDA is keen to provide a conducive atmosphere to attract more investment, technological innovations and demonstration and create a level playing field for all concerned parties to enable energy access in underserved regions of the state, he said.
Mini/Micro grids, whether they are independent or stand alone or initiated by government and private developers, are well suited for the diverse geographies of Jharkhand since the energy access has been a key issue due to limitation of main grid in providing quality electricity supply in sparsely located habitat and difficult terrain of the state.
As per an estimate, the demand of power in Jharkhand is all set to reach 6000 MW in the next four-five years. To keep pace with increasing demand, the State Energy Department and JREDA are exploring various avenues and cleaner means of energy sources. In this connection, as per the JREDA, 246 mini-grids have been installed in different parts of the state.