India announces its first 100 % solar-powered village
India announced Modhera village in the western state of Gujarat as the country’s first 24/7 solar-powered village.
Image for illustration purposes
India, Gujarat: India announced Modhera village in the western state of Gujarat as the country’s first 24/7 solar-powered village.
Modhera residents can save around 60–100 % on their electricity bills with this move. The project was built at an investment of about $9.7 M (INR 800 M), funded by federal and state government channels and in two phases.
Modhera village has a ground-mounted solar power plant and over 1,300 rooftop solar systems with 1 kW capacity have been installed on houses to generate electricity. These rooftop solar systems on residential and government buildings have also been integrated with a battery energy storage system (BESS).
The village’s solar power model has improved business prospects for local residents and enabled them to sell excess unconsumed electricity to the government, thereby creating opportunities for earning additional income.
India plans to reach 450 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030, with 280 GW (over 60 %) expected from solar power. From April until December 2021, India added 7.4 GW of solar power capacity, up by 335 % from 1.73 GW in the previous fiscal period. Furthermore, according to a source, solar capacity installations in India rose by 59 % to record 7.2 GW during the first half (H1) of 2022, witnessing the highest ever quarterly and half-yearly solar capacity additions.
Source: India Briefing