Toorputallu and Pedhamyanavanilanka, two villages in Andhra Pradesh, will run completely on solar power from this year. The villages will be electrified completely with the help of a 2 MW solar power plant, which will be developed by a private organization.
The power generated by the plant will then be bought by Andhra Pradesh discom – Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL)
“These will be the first two villages in the country to be run 100 per cent on solar power,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told PTI. She has adopted the two villages under the Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY).
The plant will be completed by August 2016. The district administration has designated the land and APEPDCL has agreed to buy power from the private developer. Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojna is a village development programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the development of model villages with their social and cultural development. Under this program, every Member of Parliament has to take the responsibility of three villages and develop their infrastructure by 2019. Members have to adopt one village in their constituency first and make it a model village by 2016. It should not be their own or their in-laws’ village. After that, they can take two or three villages and develop them the same way by 2019.