Abundant sunshine and availability of vast land tracts make Telangana State an ideal place for harnessing the potential of energy from renewable sources, IT Minister K. Taraka Rama Rao said on Sunday.
Participating in the foundation stone laying of the Hyderabad campus of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) at Gopanpally here, Mr. Rao said as a new State, Telangana was facing energy issues and a roadmap to tide over the situation was being put in place. “Renewable energy is very important not only for the State, but for the country and the world too,” he said, adding that breakthroughs in tapping solar and wind energies were awaited.
The Minister said the government was focussed on issues related to environment and climate changes and said programmes such as ‘Harita Haaram’ to plant 230 crore saplings and plants were taken up.
Even for the development of cities, widening of roads would be taken up not at the cost of cutting trees, but by trans-locating them, Mr. Rao added.
The Minister for Energy, C. Laxma Reddy said initiatives were being put in place to make Telangana a power surplus State in next three years. Tapping into renewable energy becomes a key part and the State was ideal for this, he said while seeking assistance from TERI in the government’s initiatives.
In his address, TERI Director-General and TERI University Chancellor, R.K. Pachauri said they have a campus at New Delhi, but the needs of a country like India were so widespread that confining to one location was rather limiting. “Hyderabad with abundant sunshine throughout the year and possibilities for harnessing wind energy could become an international centre for research and training on renewable energy technologies,” he said.
