Telangana’s solar power surge, a fact ignored by BJP

The State stands fourth in solar power generation and fifth in renewable energy, according to the MNRE data.

Hyderabad: Checking facts before hurling allegations at the Telangana government, it appears, is a practice alien to leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind proves to be no different, with facts countering his allegation that Telangana was not focusing on solar power projects available on the website of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

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The data states that Telangana is doing much better or on par with most BJP-ruled States as far as solar power generation is concerned. According to the MNRE data, Telangana stands fourth in solar power generation and fifth in renewable energy. In fact, in terms of solar power capacity per unit area of landmass, Telangana ranks second in the country.

Arvind had recently said at a press conference that when the entire country was pushing solar power projects to meet their power demands, the ‘Telangana government is not focusing on it’.

“The Telangana Chief Minister should take a cue from Gujarat which is promoting solar power on a large scale,” he had said, obviously ignoring or not aware that Telangana was behind only Karnataka and Gujarat in solar power generation. As of September 2022, in Telangana solar power generated was 5076.1 MW. The total renewable energy capacity of the state stood at 15,914 MW.

According to officials of the Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO), Telangana aims to have a total installed capacity of 6,246 MW of solar power by the end of 2022-23. BJP-ruled States like Uttar Pradesh have a cumulative installed capacity of 2.3 GW, Madhya Pradesh 2.7 GW and Maharashtra has an operational capacity of 2.6 GW, which is much lesser than Telangana.

According to MNRE, Telangana has the potential to develop 20.41 GW of solar power. Even union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Bhagwanth Khuba appreciated the efforts of Telangana in the renewable energy space and stated that Telangana was making rapid strides to achieve the target set under the National Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which has the objective of maximising generation of power from solar energy.

According to the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, Invest India, Telangana accounts for 10.5 per cent of India’s solar power capacity while having only 3.5 per cent of the country’s land.

All these statistics prove that statements from BJP and its leaders like Arvind always have to be taken with a pinch of salt, with the penchant to twist facts for political mileage increasingly becoming a saffron party trait.

By Anil Kumar