MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (SHRI VILAS MUTTEMWAR)
(a)&(b): At the request of Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, the
Ministry of Urban Development have advised the State/Union Territory Governments
to consider issuing suitable directives to the local bodies under their control for modifying
the building bye-laws with a view to make the installation of solar water heating systems
mandatory in certain categories of buildings. In order to assist the local bodies in this
respect, a model regulation/bye-laws has also been circulated to all State and Union Territory
Governments. The model regulation/bye-laws, when incorporated by the local bodies in
their existing building bye-laws, will make it mandatory for those categories of buildings
to have solar assisted water heating systems.
The Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Union
Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Chandigarh have so far issued necessary
orders to urban local bodies to make solar water heaters mandatory in functional
buildings in their States.
As regards solar power systems, there is no such plan at present as the cost of
electricity generation from solar systems is quite high as compared to conventional
electricity.
(c)&(d): The Government is implementing a Scheme, which provides interest subsidy
so that loans for solar water heating systems are available from financial institutions
and banks, including nationalized banks @ 2% for domestic users, 3% for institutions
and 5% for industrial/commercial users. Besides Indian Renewable Energy
Development Agency (IREDA) and three Non-Banking Financing Companies
(NBFCs), the Scheme is, at present, being implemented through nine nationalized
public sector banks and six scheduled co-operative banks.
(e)&(f): Under Remote Village Electrification Programme, installation of solar
photovoltaic power plants is one of the eligible options for electrification of remote
villages including those in hilly areas. As per the present norms, the Ministry provides
upto 90% of the specified bench-mark costs of installations of such power plants as
subsidy. So far, support for such plants under the programme has been provided
in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, J&K, Maharashtra, Meghalaya,
Tripura and West Bengal.
