Chief Secy reviews progress on solarization of houses, govt buildings in J&K

Srinagar, Oct 7: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, Wednesday reviewed the progress on implementation of the solarization programme in Jammu and Kashmir, taking detailed stock of rooftop solar installations among residential consumers and solarization of Government buildings through CAPEX and RESCO modes under PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana here.
The meeting besides ACS, Power was attended by Commissioner Secretary, S&T; MD, JPDCL/KPDCL; Chief Engineers; CEO, JAKEDA and other concerned officers. Deputy Commissioners attended the meeting through video conferencing.
The Chief Secretary while taking appraisal of the progress directed the Power Development Department (PDD) and implementing agencies to address the bottlenecks affecting the pace of installations, with particular focus on bank financing, availability and distribution of vendors, metering and expeditious execution of PPAs.
Taking note of the high rejection rate of bank loans, the Chief Secretary directed the Discoms to take up all rejected loan cases with the concerned banks, ascertain the reasons for rejection and resolve the issues instantly so that eligible consumers are not denied the benefits of the rooftop solar programme due to avoidable financing bottlenecks.
The Chief Secretary also directed the Discoms to proportionately distribute vendors across districts to ensure adequate availability of service providers and accelerate the pace of rooftop solar installations.
He also took a detailed appraisal from the concerned Deputy Commissioners regarding district-wise progress, seeking details of the impediments hampering achievement of assigned targets and calling for their resolution through coordinated intervention of the concerned agencies.
The meeting was informed by the ACS, PDD, Ashwani Kumar that J&K has achieved 55.24 per cent of its target under PM Surya Ghar, with 46,133 residential rooftops installed against the UT target of 83,500 installations by March 31, 2027. The achievement is higher than the national progress of 50.80 per cent.
While explaining the MD, KPDCL, Mehmood Ahmad Shah highlighted that of the total installations, 17,809 have been completed in JPDCL areas with a capacity of 62.69 MW, while 28,324 installations have been completed in KPDCL areas with a capacity of 102.55 MW, taking the cumulative installed rooftop solar capacity in J&K to 165.24 MW.
The meeting was informed that Rs 344.14 crore of Central subsidy and Rs 13 crore of UT subsidy have so far been credited to beneficiaries. Against the 83,500 target, 89,680 applications have been received, with 82,591 applicants who had selected vendors, 69,460 consumer agreements uploaded and 42,686 rooftop systems commissioned.
It was further divulged that around 75 per cent of rooftop solar installations in KPDCL areas are dependent on bank financing. Of the 61,566 loan applications submitted, 17,416 cases have been rejected, including 14,232 in KPDCL areas. Meanwhile, 38,773 cases have been sanctioned and disbursed, while another 5,367 cases are under process.
Reviewing the solarization of Government buildings, the meeting was informed by Commissioner Secretary, S&T, Babila Rakwal that against a total CAPEX target of 12,994 Government buildings, 8,850 buildings have already been solarized, with a combined capacity of 95.64 MW.
This includes 4,793 buildings covered under PM Surya Ghar and hybrid projects with a capacity of 41.50 MW, besides 4,057 buildings solarized under the ongoing programme with a capacity of 54.14 MW, she added.
The remaining projects are also at various stages of implementation, with materials supplied to 1,300 buildings, 943 sites under active implementation and surveys underway for another 1,901 buildings.
Under the RESCO mode, the CEO, JAKEDA, PN Dhar detailed out that it has proposed solarization of 8,000 Government buildings with a cumulative capacity of 152 MW, with work orders already placed for 5,185 buildings. Moreover it was given out that NHPC has proposed solarization of 1,500 Government buildings with a capacity of 23 MW under this arrangement.
It was also highlighted that a Power Purchase Agreement for 8 MW has already been signed for the Health and Medical Education Department in Jammu, while the solarization survey of School Education Department buildings in Jammu is underway.
The Chief Secretary directed JAKEDA to take up installation of meters with the respective Discoms simultaneously, so that metering does not become a bottleneck after installation of rooftop solar systems on Government buildings.
He, in turn, directed the PDD to ensure installation of smart meters forthwith, facilitating early commissioning and functioning of the solar rooftop systems already installed on Government buildings.
The Chief Secretary also called upon the concerned departments to complete the requisite PPAs expeditiously, stressing that administrative and procedural formalities should move in tandem with physical implementation to ensure that completed solar assets become operational without delay.
He further advised JAKEDA to accord greater focus to the RESCO mode of solarization, observing that the progress under this component is slow and needs to be accelerated through closer monitoring and timely resolution of implementation issues.
The Chief Secretary called for time-bound action and close inter-agency coordination to sustain the momentum of solarization, stressing that bottlenecks related to financing, vendor availability, metering, PPAs and project execution should be resolved promptly to translate the growing pipeline of rooftop solar projects into commissioned assets.