Gurugram becomes the 11th Most Polluted Cities in the World

The Millenium city of Gurugram has become the 11th Most Polluted Cities in the World, nothing to take pride in! The city, located in Delhi NCR has become home to a large and growing gen-next population looking for professional opportunities. Given the rising population in the city, there has been an increase in pollution levels – both from a rising number of private cars and uber cabs, and diesel generator sets used as power backup. Given the high temperatures in the city, there is a high demand for power for running fans and ACs. However, there is an intermittent supply of power in the so-called millennium city.

The government of Haryana now wants to solarize its two prominent cities – Gurugram and Faridabad to take corrective actions. As a result, it has mandated the installation of rooftop solar panels on government buildings. Gurugram alone has a peak power demand of 1600 MW on a hot summer day, whereas the city just has a total of 25 MW of solar power installed till date. The city has made a very slow progress in this area, even though the state had made it compulsory to install rooftop solar for any institution above a certain size, even earlier. However, poor implementation of policies and lack of proper infrastructure had earlier led to a slow progress. Customers are facing hurdles in getting a rooftop solar installation in the form of getting the rebates mandated to them under the law, failure on the part of DHBVN to install net meters for rooftop solar and inadequate policies for the discoms to run smoothly etc.

Solar comes as a natural solution to Haryana’s power problems as the state has high solar irradiation levels with 320 sunny days, and is one of the most industrialized and fastest growing states in the country. Let’s hope this new title for Gurugram being the 11th Most Polluted Cities in the World acts as a wake-up call for the government of Haryana.

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