West Bengal planning new renewable energy policy

Kolkata, April 12 (IANS) The West Bengal government is mulling a new policy on renewable energy, an official said Thursday.

"We are planning to bring in a policy on renewable energy. It will be a policy on co-generation and generation of electricity by using renewable energy sources," said M.K. De, principal secretary, department of power and non-conventional energy resources.

"But right now, we cannot discuss the details as the government has not yet launched the policy," he added.

Co-generation denotes production of that energy which evolves as a by-product in production units.

De said the government was also considering generation of solar power by using the rooftops of buildings.

"We are one of the first states in India where a concept of solar rooftops is being used. Under this system, a small plant is installed on the rooftops of households and commercial establishments. And the power generated from that plant would meet the power needs of that building," he said.

De also said the government is also giving a thought to the concept of grid-connected solar plants.

"We are also thinking about the grid-connected large solar plants, but we have to always think about the consumer interest also. Consumer should not be asked to pay more."