PANAJI
Advising adoption of cleaner avenues of generating power, a number of legislators on Thursday demanded that the State government make concerted efforts to go in for solar power which estimates say Goa has a potential of up to 900 megawatts.
Participating in the discussion on the demands for grants pertaining to electricity department and renewable and non-conventional energy sources, several MLAs censured the government for failure to meet solar power targets.
Congress' Yuri Alemao urged the government to target 358 MW of solar power and pointed out that it will entail an investment of Rs 1,500 crore which was about the same as the cost of the controversial Tamnar project.
Alemao urged Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar, who he said was a staunch opponent and part of the agitation against the project, to abandon it and instead concentrate on solar power.
Several other MLAs including Carlos Ferreira Alvares, Altone D'Costa and Aleixo Sequeira of the Congress, Venzy Viegas of AAP, Vijay Sardesai of GFP and even some from the ruling side like Krishna Daji Salkar also made fervent appeals to the government in favour of solar energy to meet a substantial quantum of the State's demand.
Many of the MLAs suggested that the government make it mandatory for all new government buildings being constructed to go in for roof-top solar power units.
Alvares said if serious steps are not taken, targets for solar power generation set for the State by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) will not be met and the international commitment of 175 Gigawatt of solar power made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will remain a hollow promise.
Sardesai asked the government to be more prudent and serious with regard to its subsidy scheme for roof-top solar units as those who go in for this technology may opt out only for financial reasons since it is expensive and becomes viable only by factoring in the subsidy.
Viegas, meanwhile, cautioned that it is not enough to only promote solar energy alone and other non-conventional sources of energy will also have to be explored. With Goa hit by monsoon for a good four months, solar energy generation is bound to drop even if there is capacity, he said, adding that the government should look to invite companies to conduct research and draw plans for Goa to tap sources like wind energy, wave power and even raindrop electricity.
In the discussion, MLAs also highlighted a number of grievances voiced by their constituents related to erratic supply of power, haphazard complaints redressal by the department, shortfall of equipment and sky-lift vehicles to attend to power failure calls among others.
