Chandigarh plans 75 MW solar power generation by August 2023

17 Aug 2021 CW Team

The Chandigarh administration has set a target of 75 MW solar power generation by 15 August 2023, undeterred by the Covid-19 pandemic, which spoiled its earlier plans.

The Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology (CREST) promotion society and the UT administration submitted the proposal to the centre under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign.

UT secretary environment and CEO of CREST, Debendra Dalai, told the media that it has already started generating 45 MW of solar power from different projects. It aims at generating another 30 MW, including residential and governmental projects.

Recently, the administration asked about the progress in the city's solar project installation and a roadmap for future solar plant installations from CREST.

In a meeting between the administration and department officials, UT asked CREST to provide the details of the project, including the progress details, in the pipeline of those completed.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has increased the solar power generation target of the city from 50 MW to 69 MW by 2022.

UT's plea for implementing the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model for the installation of solar plants in the city was turned down by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC).

CREST inspired JERC to implement the RESCO model in the city. CREST proposed this model after approval from the UT administrator, V P Singh Badnore. Under the RESCO, UT planned that the private companies would install solar plants on private properties, and in exchange, charge the owner of the building a lower tariff than the regular electricity rate for the time mentioned in the tender, after which the building owner will get the solar plant.

Image Source

Also read: TPREL launches 100 MW solar power project in Gujarat

Also read: MNRE issues EoI from consultants to assess solar projects and parks

Infrastructure Transport

12 Dec 2025

Railways Boosts Cyber Security And Fairness In Ticket Bookings

Indian Railways has said its reservation ticketing system is a robust and highly secure IT platform equipped with state-of-the-art cyber security measures. The national transporter has introduced several initiatives to enhance system performance and improve access to regular and tatkal tickets. A key step has been the large-scale revalidation and verification of user accounts. Since January 2025, around 30.2 million suspicious user IDs have been deactivated. Anti-bot tools such as Akamai have been deployed to filter non-genuine users, ensuring smoother booking for legitimate passengers. To c..

Indian Railways Speeds Up Green Transition With Wider Electrification

Indian Railways is accelerating its modernisation drive by upgrading infrastructure and rolling stock with advanced technologies aimed at enhancing safety, punctuality, reliability and passenger comfort. A major focus of this effort is the transition to cleaner traction systems, with a significant reduction in the use of coal-based and diesel engines. Electrification has been taken up in mission mode. As of now, 99.2 per cent of the Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified, with the remaining routes under execution. During 2014–25, Railways electrified 46,900 route kilometres, compared..

Centre Strengthens Cybersecurity Framework Across India’s Power Sector

The POWERGRID Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Cybersecurity has been established at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru to advance research and development in cybersecurity for power grid operations and transmission systems. The initiative is part of India’s broader effort to build a resilient and secure power ecosystem. To strengthen cyber readiness across the sector, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) issued the Cyber Security in Power Sector Guidelines, 2021, creating a comprehensive cyber assurance framework and governance structure for all power entities. Further, the ..