14 DAY TRIAL // India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has recently announced that the country is to soon add an impressive 7,500 megawatts of new solar power capacity.
Information shared with the public says that the 7,500 megawatts worth of solar are to be set up in the country's state of Jammu and Kashmir.
More precisely, it would appear that some 5,000 megawatts are to be set in place in a region dubbed Ladakh. The remaining 2,500 will be installed in the Kargil district.
To put things into perspective, it must be said that, at the end of this year's January, India's overall solar power capacity amounted to 2,200 megawatts.
Clean Technica tells us that, for the time being, the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India is highly dependent on fuel imported to the region from other states.
By the looks of it, the country's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy expects that, once the new 7,500 megawatts of new solar capacity go online, the state will manage to cut down on fuel imports.
What's more, it is expected that the region will make significant progress in terms of attaining energy independence, and will also manage to export some of the environmentally friendly energy it will produce.
Otherwise put, it is estimated that this green-oriented initiative will yield both financial and environmental benefits for the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The same source explains that Jammu and Kashmir has great potential in terms of harvesting clean power. Thus, some of the highest levels of solar radiation in the country have been documented in this region.
However, up until now, Jammu and Kashmir has only managed to install some 308 kilowatts of solar power, official figures indicate.
This is chiefly due to mountainous terrain, a lack of focus on infrastructure expansion on behalf of authorities, and insurgency.
What's more, no wind energy projects have until now been implemented in this state, and the region only harvests about 10% of its overall hydropower potential.
However, India appears to be determined to promote the use of renewables not only in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, but also across its entire territory.
Thus, the country hopes that, by 2022, some 3% of its overall power demand will be met by solar energy alone.
To this end, efforts are now being made to build several solar parks across India and make the idea of investing in green energy source more appealing to businesspeople.