By felicitating an employee of Raj Bhawan’s electrical wing for his outstanding contribution in conservation of electricity and maximising the usage of solar energy, Governor BD Mishra has once again reminded us all especially those at the helm of affairs in the policy making process of Arunachal Pradesh that it is high time to turn solar.

Why solar? Solar power after all is the most clean, environmental friendly source of energy with zero toxic by-products or emissions. As the energy requirements of the world increases  exponentially and our conventional sources of energy  diminishes in a lighting speed, the  crisis is really complex  with the only alternative being looking to the  sun for an effective way-out.

But hopefully, in the face of this impending catastrophe of energy deficiency the folly of using least the planet’s most powerful source of energy has finally been realised. A simple and short non-technical data will explain the fact of how much underutilised the sun is. According to an estimate, the world uses approximately 18TeraWatt-hour (TWh) of energy currently every year. One TWh is equivalent to 5 billion barrels of oil per year or 1 billion tons of coal per year. Given the fact that the earth receives more than 10,000 times this amount of energy through the rays of the sun shows clearly that this  is more than enough to provide all our energy needs.
 

And as far as India is concerned, including Arunachal Pradesh it has an average of250–300 clear sunny days and 2300–3200 hours of sun shine per year. Coming to the state’s context, facing frequent power cuts is nothing new. Being a landlocked state with an extremely difficult terrain, repair and maintenance of the conventional systems of power generation and transmissions always prone to natural disasters are challenging as well as time consuming. Still Arunachal Pradesh has potential to be India’s power house- it is a fact that has been stressed many times before not only by politicians but also by experts as well. And to achieve this distinction stressing on solar energy is perhaps the only way, keeping in mind  the less cost it involves  compared to laying transmission lines for grid connected power which could be time consuming and also  unfeasible in many cases particularly in far flung areas of the state.

Last year’s inauguration of the state’s biggest ever solar power plant  by Chief Minister Pema Khandu at capital’s  Energy Awareness Park in May with an estimated cost of Rs 850 lakhs received as incentive grant under the 13th Finance Commission has  set the ball rolling. From installing solar panels to power blood banks, hospitals and schools to using geothermal energy to heat a conference hall, the state is gradually embracing renewable energy as its saviour. A little more aggressiveness with a missionary zeal is what we need. It is only then Arunachal would be living up to its name – the land of the rising sun, the land blessed with the first rays of the sun in India.