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Cost of solar energy is less than that of coal: Goyal

The cost of solar is cheaper than that of conventional energy based on fossil fuels and the tariffs for the former remain the same for 25 years, according to Piyush Goyal, the Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy.

He thus requested industries to adopt solar power in rural and urban areas as an economic option, while speaking at a lecture organised by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and the Pune International Centre.

The traditional ethos of conservation makes India a natural country to lead global efforts in the area of climate change. Criticising US claims on clean energy, Goyal said the US has contributed nil towards it. Arguing that India’s solar energy generation programme is one of the largest globally, he said the world has tremendous potential to save energy.

On the ambitious programme of replacing 770 million incandescent bulbs with LED versions, the minister said till date more than 9 crore bulbs have been replaced and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is doing a phenomenal job replacing 7 lakh bulbs per day.

This will result in a saving of 100 billion units every year, consumer bills would come down cumulatively by Rs 40,000 crore and Co2 emissions will be down by 60 million tons per year.