State harps on renewable energy to tide over crisis

SHILLONG: As Meghalaya faces acute shortage of hydro power leading to load shedding, the State government is now focusing on renewable energy to tide over the crisis.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said the rainfall this year was less than average that has affected the existing generation centres in the State. The peak load factor has gone down drastically as a result of which the generation centres now have limited available power, he added.
Stressing on the need to go for capacity additions in respect of power generation, Sangma stated that the government     has started a few programmes to save energy from conventional sources, besides ensuring that some villages located far away from generation centres are supported by renewable energy leading to the withdrawal of conventional resources.
The government is also coming up with a programme under which solar lamps will be distributed among students to encourage them to take advantage of renewable sources of energy. The chief minister said these students in turn will convince the community to opt for renewable energy.
The State will also approach the Centre in this regard. “Initially, we will distribute 15,000-20,000 lamps to classes X and XI students,” Sangma said and added that renewable energy would also reduce the pressure on Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited and even the environment.
Reacting to a query, Sangma said the government is also encouraging use of pellets or waste biomass as an alternative to fuel to generate renewable energy.