APPLICABLE POLICIES

West Bengal Solar Policy and it's Solar Highlights

West Bengal, contrary to its name, is located in the Easter part of India and is one of the most populated stated in the country. The capital city of West Bengal os Kolkata, which was famously called as Calcutta in the time of British rule. The city was seen as a city of major importance for the Britishers, especially for trade and other economical reasons. West Bengal has about 23.07MW of connected solar power as of January 2017. Out of this more than 50%, 15.30MW to be exact was commissioned in the Financial Year 2016/17. In the year of 2016, more than 190 schools in West Bengal saw solar power systems installed. The state government has ambitious plans and more than 1300 government buildings, hospitals and schools have been identified to help install about 180MW of solar in the next couple of years. The target for the Financial year 2017-18 has been set at 120MW and the government in all is expected to spend about Rs 1000 crore overall on the project. Not just the villages and cities, but also the islands of Sundervans have been discussed as areas that are currently facing a shortage of power. Solar as a possible solution is attractive but the difficulty in land acquisition for projects has put the state behind. A new policy too is expected in West Bengal to help set up the action plan, helping the state to achieve the target of 4,500MW of solar power by the year 2022 that the state has set.