If everything goes as planned, Karnataka will soon be housing India’s first solar city. Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said the state is aiming to add 200 MW of solar energy by 2016.”The state has a capacity ranging between 4.5 and 7 kWh per sqm. “We are looking at establishing the country’s first solar city in Karnataka . We shall adopt the Gujarat model of using irrigation canals to install solar panels ,” Shettar told a press .
The Chief Minister was speaking at the inaugural session of Solarcon 2012, an exhibition-cum-conference , which will showcase solar photovoltaic (PV) sector in the state . “At least $200 million of the total $500m that we have financed in the solar PV sector is from India”, said Anita M George, director for infrastructure in Asia, International Finance Corporation (IFC), expressing interest in funding the state’s solar projects, it is reported.