Agartala, Oct 31: Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath today said that Tripura has the potential advantage to set up a Hydrogen Valley Hub for blending as well as export of Green Hydrogen.
He also said that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy may provide financial and technical assistance for the pre-feasibility study for Small Hydro Power Plants on a large scale.
The Power Minister said this while addressing the Regional Workshop on Renewable Energy for the North Eastern Zone, held in Guwahati.
Tripura has secured the first position in implementing the PM-KUSUM Scheme among all the North Eastern states. Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath received the prestigious award from Union Minister for Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, at the event.
Later, the Power Minister said that with the growing population and the development of civilization, the demand for energy is also increasing day by day.
He said that Tripura is a hilly state in the North-Eastern region of the country. There are several constraints, such as geographical isolation from the mainland and infrastructural bottlenecks in the development of the state.
“Many of the developed and developing countries have started giving efforts to increase the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix of their economies. The State Government has taken unprecedented and remarkable initiatives for the implementation of various energy schemes through the Tripura Renewable Energy Development Agency (TREDA) under the Department of Power, Government of Tripura, and created immense opportunities especially for rural people and poor families to augment their livelihoods, enhance their income, and address different socio-economic development parameters. We must endorse the use of renewable energy in our daily life,” said the Minister.
He informed that, considering the current situation and growing future demand for power in the state, the Government of Tripura has been strengthening decentralized renewable energy applications such as grid and off-grid programmes through the introduction of schemes like PM-KUSUM, PM-DevINE, PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, Grameen Baazar Alok Jyoti Prakalpa, and Micro-grids through Solar and Bio-gas, aiming to provide energy access solutions in rural and remote areas.
“Under these schemes, 3 lakh study lamps have been distributed to 3,335 schools, 15,000 solar street lights installed at 1,012 village markets, 30,000 solar street lights at village roads and other prominent places, 126 solar high masts at rural markets and prominent places, 6,051 solar pumps (PM-KUSUM B) for irrigation of 12,102 acres of land, solarization of 584 agriculture pumps (PM-KUSUM C), 454 solar pumps for drinking water (DWS), and 289 remote habitations/hamlets have been illuminated through solar micro-grids,” he said.
He informed that so far 16,951 consumers have registered under PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, 1,186 households have installed systems with a total capacity of 4.0 MW, and 988 consumers have received government subsidies.
“So far, 48.53 Mega Watt capacity green energy systems have been installed, and 500 Mega Watt is targeted by 2030,” he said.
The Minister also informed that work on renewable energy plants has increased manifold in Tripura, and it is the need of the hour to develop skilled manpower for 813.47 MW of renewable energy installations.
“A total of 4,234 employment opportunities are estimated to be generated in Tripura by 2030 to achieve the target of 500 MW renewable energy installation. For this, financial assistance is required. Green hydrogen is another sector in which the country has taken a lead in the world. The National Green Hydrogen Mission Policy has already been announced by the Government of India. Tripura has the potential advantage to set up a Hydrogen Valley Hub for blending as well as export of Green Hydrogen,” said the Minister.
The Minister also said that for strengthening the renewable energy sector, manpower support, capacity building, and a new RE policy for the North East are required to attract private sectors for the development and deployment of RE and DRE livelihood applications.
During the event, Power Secretary Abhishek Singh and Debabrata Sukla Das, Director General (In-Charge) of TREDA, were present.