Uttar Pradesh has become the second-largest state in India for domestic rooftop solar installations under the 'PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana' with 6.75 lakh installations, surpassing Maharashtra.
Gujarat leads the ranking with 7.4 lakh installations, while Maharashtra ranks third with 6.74 lakh installations.
The World Bank has approved a financing package of $890 million for India's rooftop solar programme.
This financing is intended to support the implementation of the “PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana”, which aims to install rooftop solar systems in 10 million rural and urban households across India. Additionally, the World Bank will facilitate the mobilization of $4.2 billion in private financing through commercial loans to support households in installing these systems.
Union Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the establishment of a 250 MW Solar Power Project at the Sitapur Ex-Cantonment area in Uttar Pradesh. This is the first large-scale green energy installation developed on vacant defence land.
The project will feature an integrated Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to store surplus energy and ensure a stable power supply. NTPC Ltd will implement the project through a competitive bidding process.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh has inaugurated the indigenously developed Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) system and the new Research Entrepreneurship for Translation, Innovation and NAvigation (RETINA) incubation centre at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) campus in Kolkata.
The inauguration coincided with the 150th-anniversary celebrations of IACS, which is recognized as Asia’s oldest research institution and the birthplace of the Raman Effect. It is to be noted that the PECVD system is India’s first completely indigenous technology developed for the fabrication of amorphous silicon solar cells.
Union Minister S Jaishankar visited Jamaica, marking the first ever bilateral visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) to the country. During the visit, he held delegation-level talks with Andrew Michael Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica. India and Jamaica signed 3 MoUs to enhance cooperation in health, broadcasting, and the solarisation of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Building.