Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is burning midnight oil to ensure that 20 per cent of its total energy comes from renewable sources by 2030, said Md Ghulam Rabbani, minister-in-charge, department of non-conventional and renewable energy sources.

Interestingly, the state government has already started taking several initiatives to achieve the target and the 900 MW Bandu Pumped Storage Project in Purulia in PPP model is a “prime example”.

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“This (having 20 per cent of our energy from renewable sources) is not merely an ambitious target, it is a well-planned strategic commitment,” Rabbani said at the n6th Edition of Energy Meet & Excellence Awards organised by Assocham here on Wednesday.

Barun Kumar Ray, additional chief secretary, department of non-conventional and renewable energy sources, said that there is a need to adopt innovative methods including putting in place a hybrid system by supplementing solar and wind power and integrating it with biomass in order to ramp up renewable energy adoption.

“The state government is working on solarisation of agricultural pumps. Currently huge amounts of power is drawn from the state grid or through the use of fossil fuel for operating agricultural pumps. We are looking to solarise these pumps. We are in talks with water resources, agriculture and irrigation departments for the same,” said Ray.

The West Bengal government is also looking to put in place charging infrastructure in order to be able to meet the demand from EV consumers moving forward. The state has seen a significant surge in EV registrations and this is likely to grow “by leaps and bounds” moving forward, he added.

The state government is also working with Bengal Gas Company Ltd to produce a large amount of gas from bio waste. “West Bengal has a huge potential to generate gas from biodegradable waste and we intend to work together with Bengal Gas to explore this opportunity,” he said.

This apart, Ray also talked about the state government initiative to utilise solar energy from rooftop panels installed in various government schools for cooking mid-day meals served to students. “Currently mid-day meal is cooked using firewood or LPG. We are looking forward to using solar power through rooftop panels, going forward. An announcement in this regard is likely to happen soon.”

Hugh Boylan, Australian Consul General in Kolkata, on his part, said, “The Consulate General in Kolkata is engaging with state partners and businesses across east and northeast India to explore more opportunities in the energy sector. Our world class mining equipment, technology and services firms have a strong presence here. They are looking to grow existing collaborations and find new partnerships to benefit businesses.”

The CESC will be working together with state government support and guidance for promoting rooftop solar projects in the city of Kolkata, said Vineet Sikka, MD, distribution, CESC Ltd. It will also work on battery storage for storage of surplus renewable energy.

Talking about cleaner fuels, Anupam Mukhopadhyay, CEO, Bengal Gas Company Ltd and ED, GAIL, said, “While fossil fuel will continue to be there for some years, it is important to look at less harmful fossil fuels and there comes the role of methane gas. The consumption of methane gas has increased substantially and it is expected to nearly double to touch 300 million standard cubic metre in the next two-to-three years, as compared to the current 180 million standard cubic metre.”