Amritsar gets world’s largest rooftop solar plant

Amritsar, May 26: The world's largest rooftop solar power plant was recently inaugurated in Amritsar city of Punjab. The power plant, with a capacity of 19.5 megawatts, is spread across 82 acres on multiple roofs in a single campus. The project is expected to generate clean and green energy sufficient to power approximately 8,000 homes. The project could help usher in a solar revolution in the country. The plant will offset 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in the next 25 years, which was equivalent to planting nearly 200,000 trees. Punjab produced just nine megawatts of solar energy in February 2012. However, it is now generating 470 megawatts, which was likely to touch 1080 megawatts by the end of this year, an increase of over 115 times. India, located on the tropics, is a solar rich country. India's national plan to combat climate change focuses on solar energy, which is expected to grow significantly. The aim is to reach capacity of 100 gigawatts by 2022, to be scaled up further in the future.