#GoodNews: Diu Becomes First UT to be 100% Powered by Solar Energy

Solar power plants have been installed in over 50 acres of land across Diu.

Diu has become the first Union Territory in India to run a 100 percent on solar power generated energy.

(Photo: iStock)

Showing a marked shift from using expensive non-renewable energy sources, Diu has become the first Union Territory in India to run 100 percent on solar power generated energy.

As reported by The Times of India, Diu has managed to generate surplus solar power for its residents, reducing their electricity costs, in a span of just three years.

Diu, which is one of the least populated territories in India, marking an area of 42 square kilometers, has witnessed the installation of solar power plants in over more than 50 acres of its land, the report adds.

As per the report, Diu now generates a total of about 13 megawatts of electricity from solar power generating facilities on a daily basis.

Of this, about 3 megawatts is generated by the rooftop solar plants, while the other 10 megawatts is produced by other solar power plants.

Three years ago, Diu residents relied on electricity generated from a power grid that was owned by the Gujarat government. This meant huge line losses and expensive tariffs, reports News World India. However, the report mentions that once the local company began to generate and supply electricity from the solar energy power plants, electricity losses were significantly reduced.

Milind Ingle, the electricity department executive engineer of Daman and Diu, told The Times of India that the Union Territory decided to set up the solar power plants in a bid to overcome the limitation of having to solely depend on the Gujarat government for water and electricity.

Diu’s peak-time demand for electricity goes up to 7 megawatts and we generate about 10.5 megawatts of electricity from solar energy daily. This is way more than the consumption demand requirement.

Milind Ingle told <i>Times of India</i>

As a result of this surplus electricity from the solar power plants, the monthly costs of local households have fallen by 12 percent, Ingle added.

As reported by The Times of India, the residents would have to pay Re 1.20 per unit for using between 0-50 unites and Re 1.50 per unit for 50-100 units.

However, once the solar power plants were set up and began generating electricity, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Goa and the Union territories removed the 0-50 units slab and revised the per unit charge for using between 1-100 units, to Re 1.01 per unit.

(With inputs from Times of India and News World India)