Haryana gets 1st prize in Solar Urban Areas Programme

Chandigarh Nov 22 (UNI) President Pratibha Patil today conferred on Haryana the first prize in the country for its best performance in Solar Urban Areas Programme and in Solar Cooker Programme and also the second prize in Solar Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme at the national level.

The awards were given at a function held at New Delhi on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Union Renewable Energy Department.

On behalf of the Haryana government, Ms Sumita Misra, Director, Renewable Energy Department and Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) received these awards.

Giving the details, Ms Sumita Misra said that under the Solar Cooker Programme, the Haryana Government was promoting the use of box and dish type solar cookers with an objective to conserve conventional fuels like fuel wood, kerosene and LPG in the cooking sector.

She said during the Tenth Plan period 1983 box type and 6329 dish type solar cookers were provided in the state with a total cost of Rs 3.48 crore out of which Rs 89.01 lakh was borne by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Rs 47.11 lakh was shared by the state government.

The cost of a dish type solar cooker was Rs 5100 and it could cook food for about 10-15 persons and save up to 10 LPG cylinders in a year.

She said Haryana was the first state in the country to demonstrate the applications of solar photo voltaic technology to create awareness about the benefits of solar photovoltaic devices in urban areas and also to reduce the burden on conventional electricity in cities/towns and divert the energy saved to small towns and villages that face acute shortage of power.

UNI