Shimla, Dec. 23 -- Sharing his vision to transform Himachal Pradesh into a green energy state by March 2026, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Monday that with the objective of making the state self-reliant in the energy sector, the state government has set a target to meet more than 90% of its energy requirement through renewable energy sources. At present the annual energy consumption of the State is nearly around 13,000 million units. He said that the state has witnessed a massive shift towards harnessing solar energy due to the green initiatives of the state government and has set a target to set up 500 MW of solar power projects within the next two years. Under the' Green Panchayat Programme', gram panchayats have been placed at the centre of this initiative under which 500-kw ground-mounted solar power projects will be installed in all panchayats across the state, he said. In the first phase, approval has been granted for setting up 500 kw solar power plants in 24 gram panchayats and work has already commenced in 16 such panchayats. Under this programme, a total solar power generation target of 150 MW has been set. The CM said Pekhubela Solar Power Project in Una commenced commercial operations on 15 April 2024. So far, it has generated 79.03 million units of net electricity and earned revenue amounting to Rs 22.91 crore. Currently, three solar power projects with a combined capacity of 31 MW are in the execution stage, while four solar power projects with a total capacity of 41 MW are at the tendering stage. A 200 MW solar power plant will also be established on barren land in the Damtal area of Kangra. The state government is also making concerted efforts to promote alternative energy projects in areas such as green hydrogen, compressed biogas, geothermal energy and other emerging sectors, he said....