Within the next three years, the Gujarat government plans to generate 60 mw power from rooftops of over 30,000 houses. Apart from houses, solar panels of about 20 mw capacity will be laid on the Narmada irrigation canal and solar-power high-speed pumps will be provided to farmers for irrigation in Gujarat.

The State government has taken up the initiative under its second phase of solar power project, said DJ Pandian, Principal Secretary for Energy and Petrochemicals. The government will be covering 10,000 houses under the solar rooftop project every year for the next three years, he added.

He stated that tenders for 5 mw rooftop solar power generation in each of the five cities, namely Rajkot, Mehsana, Bhavnagar, Vadodara and Surat, are waiting for approval from GERC, the official added. Currently, the state capital, Gandhinagar with 5 mw of solar rooftop generation capacity, is the only city to generate solar power from rooftops.