Bangalore: At least 60
Indian cities will be solar powered by 2020 if India is able to
generate 20,000 MW of solar energy by then, said Mark Ginberg, Senior
Official with the U.S. Department of Energy.
The U.S. Department of Energy and the All India Institute of Local Self
Government (AIILSG) launched a joint training programme on 'Energy
efficient and green cities' in Goa, which will train Indian experts,
universities, local self governments and civic bodies on getting cities
to move to solar powered energy, reports the Times of India.
"Twenty cities in India have already been lined up for this programme
and they will be partnered with cities in the U.S. for moving towards
this objective," said Ginberg, who is the Senior Executive Advisor to
the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.
According to an initial list of partnered Indo-U.S. cities, Ahmedabad
has been tied up with Atlanta and Columbus; Bangalore with San
Francisco; Chennai with Denver, Delhi with Chicago, Mumbai with Los
Angeles and Surat with Philadelphia.
"This tie-up will enable Indian institutions such as schools to study
energy-smart schools in the U.S. and implement the same here, if they
wish to do so," said Vatsal Bhatt, Co-ordinator of U.S., India and
China city partnership for sharing best practices in energy and
environment.
Union Minister of State for Power Bharatsinh Solanki said that the
country could make use of its open fields and rooftops of houses to
harness solar energy and water harvesting. "Delhi is already
considering to set up an energy efficiency board. Nuclear energy will
the answer in the future, even thorium techniques could be utilized.
However, in India, we have financial constraints," he said.
