RAIPUR/AGARTALA, Dec 2 (TIWN): The Centre has put forward a ‘pre-condition’ of extending financial support of `2.50 crore to Raipur city which had been selected for ‘Pilot Solar City’ programme provided equal amount is contributed by the Municipal Corporation or the State Government or any other resources including public private partnership (PPP) for installation of renewable energy projects/systems.

Notably, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has selected Raipur among 15 other cities in the country to be developed as ‘Pilot Solar City’, officials stated.

So far 13 cities namely Agartala, Coimbatore, Rajkot, Shimla, Faridabad, Thane, Raipur, Shirdi, Leh, Aizawl, Puducherry, Vijaywada and Amritsar are being developed as ‘Pilot Solar City’.

On the other hand fund sanctions have been made to 31 cities which have received in-principle approvals and they have engaged Consultants for preparation of master plan. These cities are: Agra, Moradabad, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombiwali, Kohima, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Thane, Panaji City & Environs, Bilaspur, Raipur, Imphal, Itanagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Guwahati, Agartala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Shimla, Hamirpur, Haridawar & Rishikesh, Vijaywada, Aizawl, Mysore, Hubli and Gwalior.

Funds towards 50% cost of preparation of Master Plans have also been released to each city. Draft Master plans have been prepared for 11 cities.  The setting up of solar city cell in these cities is in  progress.

The Master Plan of the city will include the base line for energy consumption during the year 2008, demand forecasting for the years 2013 and 2018, sector-wise strategies and action plan for implementation of renewable energy projects so as to mitigate the fossil fuel consumption in the city. This will contain details of identified project sites so that, the project proposals could be developed

The Stakeholders committees have been constituted in all 50 solar cities while the solar city cells have been created in 26 solar cities.The Ministry has launched a Scheme on “Development of Solar Cities”: under which a total of 60 cities/towns are proposed to be supported for development as “Solar/ Green Cities”. At least one city in each State to a maximum of five cities in a State may be supported by the Ministry.

The cities may have population between 0.5 to 50 lakh. Relaxation could be considered for special category states including North-Eastern States.

Financial support up to of Rs 50 lakh for each city may be provided for preparation of the Master Plan alongwith few DPR (up to `10 lakh), oversight of its implementation (up to `10 lakh), setting up and functioning of Solar City Cell in the city (up to `10 lakh) and organising promotional activities (up to `20 lakh).

The Solar City aims at minimum 10% reduction in projected demand of conventional energy at the end of five years, through a combination of enhancing supply from renewable energy sources in the city and energy efficiency measures. The basic aim is to motivate the local Governments for adopting renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures. In a Solar City all types of renewable energy based projects like solar, wind, biomass, small hydro, waste to energy etc. may be installed along with possible energy efficiency measures depending on the need and resource availability in the city.

The city is identified based on city population, potential and commitment for adoption of renewable energy and energy conservation in the city activities,  initiatives already taken by City Council/ Administration/ Private Developers/Industry/General Public in promoting renewable energy and energy conservation, regulatory measures taken on deployment of renewable energy technologies and their willingness to provide resources and sustenance of activities initiated under the programme.