PHD Chamber holds seminar on solar power

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 15

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised a seminar on solar power and rain water harvesting. Varinder Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, was the chief guest at the interactive seminar. The chamber had invited experts from Chandigarh: Avtar Singh, Shree Krishan and Kavish Banga to make presentation on emerging trends, financial, technical and commercial viability aspect of solar and water harvesting project.

Sanjeev Juneja, convener of the Jalandhar Chapter of Commerce and Industry while welcoming all guests and members said India, a rapidly growing economy with more than one billion people, was facing a huge energy demand. The country stands fifth in the world in the production and consumption of electricity. The electricity production has expanded over the years but we cannot deny the fact that the population of the country is also expanding. The power produced in the country is mostly from coal and it is predicted that countries coal reserves won’t last beyond 2040 or 50. He also said rainwater harvesting was one of the most effective methods of water management and water conservation.

Shree Krishan, guest speaker from Chandigarh, said the National Solar Mission was launched on the January11, 2010 by the Prime Minister. The mission has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022 and is aimed at reducing the cost of solar power generation in the country through aggressive R&D and domestic production of critical raw materials, components & products. This mission will make India a global leader in solar energy.

He said there was a huge potential available for generating solar power using unutilised space on rooftops in small and medium scale industries and other commercial establishments. The power generated can be used to partly fulfill the requirements of the commercial establishment and surplus, if any, can be fed into the grid which can be taken back whenever required. The cost of the solar system has dropped significantly and it was never so affordable. It makes strong commercial sense now to avail tax benefit along with saving of power bills.

Speakers Avtar Singh, Shree Krishan and Kavish Banga also focused on urgency and importance of water harvesting. Due to depleting water table in Punjab, there is an urgent need to revive the ground water table for the coming generations which can be done by harvesting the rain water. The speakers also discussed various techniques to conserve valuable resources of the nature.