Bengal drawing up schemes for promoting renewable energy : Mamata

Kolkata, Aug 20 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the state government is drawing up major schemes for promoting renewable energy including solar.

"Today is National Renewable Energy Day. Our state government is drawing up major schemes for the promotion of solar power and other sources of renewable energy like tidal power in Bangla," Mamata tweeted.

Mentioning about a solar based scheme, she wrote, "One such scheme is ‘Aaloshree’ under which roofs of all government offices & schools are being fitted with solar panels."

State power minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee had earlier said that the Bengal government is expecting to add over 2,000 megawatt (mw) of power in the next five years including 300 mw of solar power.

He said the state has already made significant progress in adding capacity in solar power under the present regime.

National Renewable Energy Day is also known as Akshay Urja Diwas. This is an awareness campaign about the developments of renewable energy in India, celebrated on August 20, every year since 2004.