New Delhi, Sept 27: Government today said as many as 18,000 remote villages would be provided electricity through solar, biomass, small hydro and wind energy sources by 2007. "The efforts for achieving electrification of 18,000 remote villages have already started," Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources M Kanappan said here at a seminar, organised by Assocham.
Till date, bio mass and hydropower contribute about 3.5 per cent of the installed capacity for electric power, which aggregates around 4,000 megawatt, he said.
In addition, 3.5 million households had been provided with biogas and one million with solar lighting systems, the Minister said.
Pointing out that the share of renewable energy was already 30 per cent in the total energy, Kannappan said "there is a need to look at renewable energy in its totality."
He said several institutions involved in R&D across the world, were engaged in biofuels.
Assocham alternate president M K Sanghi said the Centre should monitor the on-going schemes and make tariff policies which could encourage the renewable sources. Bureau Report