Solar Energy to Light Up Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh

Solar Energy to Light Up Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh is set to welcome its first solar expressway. The 296-kilometer-long Bundelkhand Expressway will be the first solar expressway that will see the installation of solar panels on both sides of its  stretch.

The project announced comes as part of the state government’s Solar Energy Policy 2022. The policy strives for 22,000 MW of solar power projects by 2026-27.

Manoj Kumar Singh, the CEO of the UPEIDA (Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority) has invited expressions of interest from private firms for the installation of solar panels on the said Expressway. The project will be established on a public-private partnership model. Applicants shortlisted will need to share their execution plans for the project.

A vacant stretch of land, extending to 15 to 20 metres, between the primary carriageway and service lane along the full stretch of the expressway, will see the set up of solar panels. This area functions as a buffer zone between the expressway and the agricultural land.

In 2017, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial development Authority (YEIDA) had sought permission from the Uttar Pradesh government to set up solar plants across 100 hectares of unused land.

In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the country’s first solar-powered smart and green Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) Expressway which is 135 km long. It is also known as Eastern Peripheral Expressway.