Home > Women Clothing > Rooftop solar power systems in Haryana… Deadline over, result nowhere

Exactly a year ago, on 3rd September 2014, the Haryana Government issued a notification for the installation of rooftop solar power systems for commercial buildings having load connection of 50 Kilo Watt (KW) to 1 Mega Watt, and making it mandatory for such factories to produce solar power of 5 per cent of total requirement or 10 KW, whichever is higher. The deadline for installation was September 2015; however, as of now very few factories have come forward for implementation and most of them are going to miss the deadline. The garment and textile industry of Haryana, be it the garment export hub of Gurgaon or Faridabad, home furnishing hub of Panipat or other emerging industrial areas like Sonepat, have also not warmed up to the idea, despite penalties ranging between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 10 lakh on failure to implement solar power within the deadline.

There are more than 2,000 textile/garmenting-related units in Haryana having concern with the export sector where sustainability is a very critical issue, yet the seriousness of the situation is missing. Even officers of the state’s RE (renewable energy) department are not very much aware with all the details of the provision and most people in the industry are clueless. Initially it was being said that this initiative will help to tackle power shortage as well as improve environment, but it is another example of failure or delay in implementation of the Government schemes because of the lack of follow-up and knowledge on procedural issues.

Not only are the factories, but even the Government is as responsible for the failure, since the factory owners claim that there is no clarity in the notification. “What is our responsibility if the factories are on rent; there is no precision in the notification as to whether the owner of a building or the tenant (factory owner) will invest for this system; secondly, there are only two companies in India manufacturing panels and we can’t rely on imported panels from China. Despite that we are working on this project and very soon we may have it in the factories which are on our land,” said C P Gupta, Maintenance Engineer of Richa Global Exports. The company has a total of 6 factories in Gurgaon and as of now there is no solar system in any of the factories.

Shahi Exports, which has gained respect for following rules and CSR activities, has two units in Faridabad with total 3,000 machines, but still has not gone in for implementation. “The concerned department is working on this and exploring the possibilities,” informed Samaidha Bhatnagar, GM, HR of the company who confirmed that none of factories in Faridabad have implemented solar panels, but even she was not clear about the reasons why Shahi has not done this yet.

Most factories that Apparel Online talked to in this regard have their own logic, as to why they are not implementing solar panels; while some talk of space constraints, others are not willing to invest at this point of time. However, there are some factories that are using solar panels for the last many years like Chelsea Mills, one of the well known names in Gurgaon. Anuj Bhatia, CEO of the company claims, “We have almost 500 solar panels and are using them for our energy needs from the last 6-7 years. Our laundry section is completely running on solar power.” Besides, big export houses like Chelsea Mills, even some medium-level export houses like Kiran Associates have also implemented solar energy. JL Sehgal, MD of the company and veteran of the industry told, “We have installed solar panels for 15 KW capacity which is fully operational now and generating almost 2,000 units per months. I don’t agree that it is too costly when comparing it to the benefits we get. Installation cost for per KW is Rs. 75-80 thousand and there is not much maintenance expenditure too. As far as benefits are concerned, there is 80 per cent accelerated depreciation in first year from income tax which is a good support. Secondly, with the system which is going to start very soon, one can sell electricity to the Government on off days like Sundays, when most of the factories don’t work but power is generated, which means the factory is earning on Sunday without doing anything.”

Government seems to be in no hurry to implement its own order as only HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) and Town and Country Planner have done necessary changes in their by-laws, even though this change is must for the implementation of this order. HSIDC (Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation) and other such bodies have still not made the changes. Rajnarayan Kaushik, (IAS), Director, RE Department shared with Apparel Online, “Enforcement of the order will involve parent department like HUDA or HSIDC, and we have already requested to all concerned to make the change in their by-laws.” Sandeep Yadav, Project Officer (Gurgaon) of the state’s department of RE accepts that response from the industry is not enthusiastic and even today implementation is at initial level. “In Gurgaon only few corporate giants have come up with solar rooftops while majority of medium or reasonable sized companies are still non-compliant. We can’t yet comment on whether there will be an extension of the deadline or will there be any penalty with immediate effect.”

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