Delhi cabinet decided that Rajghat thermal power plant will be officially shut and turned into a solar park. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said 5,000KW of solar power will be produced at the 45-acre plant site.
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The coal-based plant, whose current units were commissioned in 1989, has been lying in a shutdown mode from 2014, having outlived its shelf life of 25 years.
“The Rajghat coal power plant will be officially shut now. There will be a solar park built on this 45-acre land. We are already doing something similar at Indraprastha power station and 5,000KW of solar power generation has already started there,” said Sisodia.
Delhi, which has now become the power hungry capital of the country, with the highest-ever peak power demand of 7,409MW this year — much more than many of the other metropolitan cities combined — started its power generation with a mere 2MW diesel set in Lahori Gate in 1903.
The Rajghat location played an important role in the power growth story of the capital. After Independence, Rajghat Power House was installed in 1951 with 5MW capacity. In the second five-year plan, three diesel generating sets totaling 20MW were installed at different locations in Delhi. A 15MW unit was installed at Rajghat in 1966 followed by three units of 67.5MW each in 1967-68 at Indraprastha Power Station, finally leading to two current units of 135MW capacity being installed in 1989.
However, in the past few years, there has been a steady shift with a focus on renewable energy. The power department’s green budget portion highlighted that the city had installed 118MW capacity of solar power against the target of 150MW till December 2018.
Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission recently notified that the group net metering and virtual net metering framework will benefit thousands of RWAs, households and CGHS societies.
In its 2018-19 Green Budget, Delhi government had also announced the Mukhyamantri Kisan Aay Badhotri Solar Yojana’, to achieve solar targets as per the Delhi Solar Policy 2016. This scheme, which eyes solar power generation through panels installed on agricultural lands, will help farmers to earn extra money without affecting the normal farming activities.
About Delhi Government
Deputy Chief Minister: Manish Sisodia
Chief Secretary: Vijay Kumar Dev, IAS
Chief Justice: Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel
