Diu Smart City has become the first city in India, that runs on 100% renewable energy during daytime setting a new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green.
Diu had been importing 73% of its power from Gujarat until last year. It has now adopted a two-pronged approach whereby a 9 MW solar park spread over 50 hectares rocky barren land has been developed besides installing solar panels on the roof tops on 79 government buildings thereby generating 1.3 MW annually.
To further enhance its solar capacity, Diu offers its residents a subsidy of Rs 10, 000-50,000 for installing 1-5KW roof top solar panels. Diu is saving about 13,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. Due to low-cost solar energy, power tariffs have been cut in residential category by 10% last year and 15% this year.
Yesterday, the home minister of India, Rajnath Singh said “Rs1,400 crores would be (further) spent under the Smart City project, of which the government would contribute Rs 701 crore.”
Some of the important projects to be undertaken in Diu include construction of a continuous coastal promenade connecting various places, development of a mobile app for convenience of tourists, setting up of an integrated command and control centre for strengthening security and improving traffic management, development of green transport, seaplane service between Daman and Diu, among others.
The government plans to develop 100 smart cities under the Smart Cities Mission. Under the scheme, each city gets Rs 500 crore as central assistance for implementing projects. It has to be matched by an equal amount by the state. Since the launch of the Mission, Rs 9,939 crore has been released by the government. Against this, 753 projects worth Rs 24,511 crore have been completed or started work on-ground.
