Uttar Pradesh Can Generate 3 Lac Jobs in Solar Energy: CEED Report

Six Uttar Pradesh cities alone can generate 11.4 GW of solar energy using 11 percent of their built-up area, a report by the Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED) said.

The report titled "Uttar Pradesh: Uncovering Solar Rooftop Potential in Urban Cities" released here said the installation of solar rooftops in Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Meerut, Allahabad, and Gorakhpur can also generate 3 lakh jobs in the state.

It suggested that the peak power deficit is met by installing grid-connected solar rooftops by 2025 to generate 1,674 MW.

CEED Programme Director Abhishek Pratap said: "Solar rooftop has a game-changing potential to completely revitalize the development landscape with improved power supply, massive capital infusion and a significant rise in job creation."

He added that the 11.4 GW of solar rooftop potential in these six cities can "bring Rs 570 billion investment in the solar energy sector in the state, thus creating a ripple effect in employment generation with a possibility of 3 lakh jobs in next five years along with an expansive boost to manufacturing, assembling and service sectors in the solar industry".

Uttar Pradesh government has set an ambitious target of generating 10,700 MW of solar power by the end of 2022. The target set for solar rooftop systems is 4,300 MW.

The CEED's report reveals that about one-third of this target can be achieved by merely exploiting the potential of these six major cities, considering the current grid curtailment factor.

It also charts a sustainable roadmap to make the cities of Uttar Pradesh powered through solar energy.

As these cities have well established urban residential settlements and overall infrastructure, their potential lies largely in the residential sector, followed by public/semi-public buildings and government buildings.

Among these cities, Lucknow (3187 MW) has the maximum potential, followed by Kanpur (3010 MW) and Agra (1986 MW), whereas Gorakhpur (833 MW) has the lowest solar rooftop potential. The potential of the other two cities -- Allahabad and Meerut -- studied in the report are 1577 MW and 900 MW, respectively.

Rooftop solar projects can be readily executed in government buildings, public/semi-public buildings and industries.

"For catalysing energy transformation in the state, government buildings offer best options with bundling of projects which helps in reducing the cost," said Anand Prabu Pathanjali, Manager - Clean Energy at CEED.

"Metering guidelines and their implementation need further strengthening for a higher amount of solar power through distributed sources," he added.

In a recent order, the state government made solar rooftops mandatory for all government buildings and asked its departments to explore the use of solar energy for catering to their energy requirements.