Rooftop solarisation figures in green package of Interim Budget

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a slew of measures including rooftop solarisation for the promotion of green growth and renewable energy.

She said that through rooftop solarisation, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units free electricity every month.

“This scheme follows the resolve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the historic day of Pran Prathishta of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya,” she said while tabling the Interim Budget 2024-2025 in Parliament.

She said that the scheme will result in savings of Rs 15,000 to 18,000 annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies.

She said that a scheme for charging electric vehicles would be launched to provide entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation.

“Employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance would emerge with the scheme,” she said.

With the aim of meeting the commitment of ‘net-zero’ by 2070,the finance minister proposed as part of the Interim Budget 2024-25:

Viability gap funding to be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of one giga-watt.

Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT to be set up by 2030. This will also help in reducing imports of natural gas, methanol, and ammonia.

Phased mandatory blending of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transport and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) for domestic purposes to be mandated.

Financial assistance to be provided for procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support collection.

–IANS

pannu/dan