Solar Cities in India

India moves in track to have first of its green and clean solar cities in the country. With rapid development and urbanization, there has been a rising demand for energy in the cities of India. The MNRE had selected 60 cities in India where renewable energy forms could be adopted to reduce the usage of traditional power by minimum 10%. A city having population levels between 0.5 – 50 lakh. Solar cities are not a new concept. In fact they have been successfully implemented in Australia and USA.

Capital sanctions of INR 50 lakhs per city was sanctioned to 31 cities. A combination of renewable energy technologies like solar generators, rooftop installations, solar heating systems etc. will be used in the process. Detailed methodology has been put in place to achieve this target. This program will assist local governments in preparing a master plan, which will entail sector wise preparation of energy demand and supply chain currently and over a period of 2013-2018. Based on this a renewable energy resources assessment would be done. The potential sources are listed below:

Solar energy

Thermal Systems

i)Solar water heating systems

ii)Solar cookers (Box and dish type)

iii)Scheffler cookers for indoor cooking

iv)Solar steam generating systems

v)Solar drying/air heating systems

vi)Solar refrigeration and air conditioning plants

vii)Solar concentrators for process heat applications

Photovoltaic Systems

viii)Solar lanterns

ix)Solar home lighting systems

x)Solar generators

xi)Street light solar control systems

xii)Solar hoardings

xiii)Solar street light/garden lights

xiv)Solar traffic lights

xv)Solar blinkers

xvi)Road studs

xvii)Solar power packs

xviii)Building integrated photovoltaic

xix)SPV power plants for decentralization applications

xx)Roof top plants for replacing DG gensets

xxi)Solar charging stations

Biomass &Waste to Energy Projects

i)Power projects based on Municipal and Urban Waste and also on industrial waste through combustion/bio-methanation technologies

ii)Power projects based on methane available from STPs

iii)Bo-mass gasification and co-generation projects in industries

iv)Biomass gasifies based crematoriums

v) Projects on methane utilization for thermal & electrical applications in industries

Wind turbines for power generation

Miro-hydel plants

Solar passive architecture in buildings/housing

Source: MNRE

Read more about Solar Energy in India

Initiated in 2008, the program received formal approval of the government for 50 such cities last week. The master plans of 46 of these cities have been prepared so far.

State-wise status of Solar Cities as on 19.08.2015
State	Approved Solar Cities	Status of Master Plans	Solar City Cell Created
1. Andhra Pradesh	1. Vijayawada	Prepared	Yes
2. Telangana	2. Mahbubnagar*	Under Preparation	No
3. Assam	3. Guwahati	Prepared	No
	4. Jorhat	Prepared	Yes
4. Arunachal Pradesh	5. Itanagar	Prepared	Yes
5. Chandigarh	6. Chandigarh	Prepared	Yes
6. Chhattisgarh	7. Bilaspur	Prepared	Yes
	8. Raipur	Prepared	Yes
7. Gujarat	9. Rajkot	Prepared	Yes
	10. Gandhinagar	Prepared	Yes
	11. Surat	Prepared	Yes
8. Goa	12. Panji City	Prepared	No
9. Haryana	13. Gurgaon	Prepared	No
	14. Faridabad	Prepared	Yes
10. Himachal Pradesh	15. Shimla	Prepared	Yes
	16. Hamirpur	Prepared	Yes
11. Karnataka	17. Mysore	Prepared	Yes
	18. Hubli-Dharwad	Prepared	No
12. Kerala	19. Thiruvananthapuram*	Under Preparation	No
	20. Kochi	Under Preparation	No
13. Maharashtra	21. Nagpur	Prepared	Yes
	22. Thane	Prepared	Yes
	23. Kalyan-Dombivali	Prepared	Yes
	24. Aurangabad	Prepared	No
	25. Nanded	Prepared	No
	26. Shirdi	Prepared	Yes
14. Madhya Pradesh	27. Indore*	Prepared	No
	28. Gwalior	Prepared	Yes
	29. Bhopal	Prepared	No
	30. Rewa	Prepared	Yes
15. Manipur	31. Imphal	Prepared	Yes
16. Mizoram	32. Aizawl	Prepared	Yes
17. Nagaland	33. Kohima	Prepared	Yes
	34. Dimapur	Prepared	No
18. Delhi	35. New Delhi (NDMC area)	Prepared	No
19. Orissa	36. Bhubaneswar	Prepared	No
20. Punjab	37. Amritsar	Prepared	No
	38. Ludhiana	Prepared	Yes
	39. SAS Nagar (Mohali)	Under Preparation	No
21. Rajasthan	40. Ajmer	Under Preparation	No
	41. Jaipur	Under Preparation	No
	42. Jodhpur	Prepared	No
22. Tamil Nadu	43. Coimbatore	Prepared	No
23. Tripura	44. Agartala	Prepared	Yes
24. Uttarakhand	45. Dehradun	Prepared	Yes
	46. Haridwar & Rishikesh	Prepared	Yes
	47. Chamoli – Gopeshwar	Prepared	Yes
24. Uttar Pradesh	48. Agra	Prepared	No
	49. Moradabad	Prepared	Yes
	50. Allahabad	Under Preparation	No
25. West Bengal	51. Howrah	Under Preparation	Yes
	52. Madhyamgram	Prepared	No
	53. New Town Kolkata	Prepared	Yes
26. Jammu & Kashmir	54. Leh*	Under Preparation	No
27. Puducherry	55. Puducherry	Prepared	No

*Only In-principal approval given. 

Source: MNRE

With the new 100 GW solar installation target announced by the Central Government, the country is fast ramping up to achieve whatever it can. The government is surely headed in the right direction to achieve the same. It remains to be seen whether all of this can be accomplished in real and concrete sense or only on paper.