Diu Smart City: First to run on 100% Renewable Energy during daytime

Diu Smart City has become first city in India to run on 100% renewable energy during daytime. With this, it has set new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green.
Diu was importing 73% of its power from Gujarat until last year. But now it has adopted two-pronged approach to reduce dependence on Gujarat for power requirements through renewable energy.

Key Facts

The two approaches include 9 MW solar park spread over 50 hectares rocky barren land and installing of solar panels on roof tops on 79 government buildings thereby generating 1.3 MW annually.  To further enhance its solar capacity, Diu has been offering its residents subsidy of Rs 10, 000 to Rs. 50,000 for installing 1-5KW roof top solar panels.
With these renewable energy initiatives, the UT has been saving about 13,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. Moreover, due to low-cost solar energy, power tariffs have been cut by 10% in 2017 and 15% in 2018 in residential category.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2018