Failing to enhance annual budget of JAKEDA

25/03/2019

Achieving targets of harnessing all forms of renewable energy fixed by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) would be a daunting task for the State Government as neither the budget of Jammu and Kashmir Energy Development Agency has been enhanced nor Renewable Energy Corporation established despite approval by the State Cabinet. Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has decided to establish 100 Giga Watt (GW) of solar power capacity by 2022 and has accordingly allocated the targets to those States which have huge solar energy potential. The Union Government is expecting Jammu and Kashmir to play crucial role in achieving this feat as study conducted by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) reveals that Jammu and Kashmir has solar power potential of 111.05 Giga Watt, which is the second highest in the country after Rajasthan where the potential is 142.32 GW and the Government of India wants the dependence for power needs to be shifted by generating power from solar, wind and other renewable resources.
However, achieving this target would be a daunting task for the State Government as on one side annual budget of the Jammu and Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA) has not been increased significantly during the past many years and on the other side Renewable Energy Corporation has not been formally established.
It is pertinent to mention here that JAKEDA is the State nodal agency for the promotion and development of renewable energy programmes and projects. The mandate of the agency covers the entire gamut of renewable energy resources such as solar, wind and geothermal sources. JAKEDA has meagre annual budget of Rs 10 crore although it was established three decades back in 1989. Of this, only around Rs 8 crore is earmarked every year for tapping solar energy, which is grossly inadequate to tap the available potential. In such circumstances meeting the targets of tapping renewable energy fixed by the Government of India would be daunting task for the State Government. But till date no progress has been made in this regard and this clearly indicates that focus has not been shifted towards harnessing renewable energy at the required level.

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