India and Japan to jointly develop Solar City
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17:44 IST
A Japanese delegation led by Mr. Kazuhiro Haraguchi, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications today met Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah. The meeting discussed various aspects of cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable energy.

The two sides decided to jointly develop one city in India as “solar city”. The Solar City project aims to reduce a minimum of 10% of its projected demand of conventional energy at the end of five years through energy efficiency measures and generation from renewable energy installations. Government has, so far, given in-principle approval to 34 cities in the country to be developed as Solar Cities.

Japan wants to promote “Midori no Bunken” – which aims at changing centralized society to community based society to enhance self sufficiency within a region through maximizing natural resources (forest, sea, food) and energy, with emphasis on not relying on electricity generated by others. It focuses on renewable energy like solar, wind, micro hydel and biomass energy.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in Research and Development for promoting renewable energy. As part of the exchange programme, a 10-member delegation from India will participate in the Japan-India New and Renewable Energy Seminar in Tokyo later this month. The delegation will include representatives from Central Government, State Governments and Nodal Agencies.

PRA/SKK