Indian Union Minister for Renewable Energy, Dr.Farooq Abdulla recently said that his ministry has been assisting the Kanpur located Indian Institute of Technology in the research and development of solar energy and its popularization.
Dr.Farooq Abdulla
The ministry has also allotted a research project to the Institute for the purpose of making solar energy affordable and bringing it to the common man.
According to Farooq Abdulla, the time has come to no longer rely on conventional non-renewable energy sources such as coal and move on to other forms of renewable energy sources. He mentioned the efforts of his ministry in promoting the use of solar kitchens in a bigger way and how it is utilized in religious places such as Vaishno Devi, where devotees throng in thousands and in the Golden Temple to meet the food requirements of around 50,000 people every day. He also said that Laddakh, a northern state in India, has been allocated Rs.570 crore to generate solar power and to encourage cooking by utilizing solar power.
He explained the role of Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission, which has planned to produce around 100 MW solar power in 2013 and achieve a target of 20,000 MW by 2022. He has disclosed the programs of his ministry to generate more than 13 MW through wind power He also stated the importance of tidal energy for power generation and said that scientists were trying to harvest power through this source.