Bihar plans to go green with a move towards the use of renewable energy in the next financial year.

The energy department has decided to move a proposal to the state cabinet for its approval on "grid-connected rooftop solar power plants".

These rooftop solar power plants will be connected to the conventional electricity supply grid, and will supply surplus power to the grid. It will also be able to retrieve power from the grid when required.

Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA) director R. Lakshmanan told The Telegraph: "Our next plan is to have grid connected rooftop solar power plants across the state. We are hoping to move a proposal before the state cabinet by March-end."

The cost for such solar plants is expected to be around Rs 70,000 to 80,000 per kilowatt (KW). " It will promote the use of renewable energy," Lakshmanan said.

Energy department officials added that tenders will be called once the cabinet approves, and subsequently installation will begin by June, 2017.

The solar plants would be designed depending on the rooftop space available and the usage requirements of the consumers.

It will also have meters attached to help keep a tab on the solar power supplied to the grid and conventional power taken from it.

The grid-connected variety follows the success of the "off-grid rooftop solar power plants" in the state. Bihar had planned to install 6,000 such plants during the current financial year of 2016-2017, and around 8,000 people applied for them. Work is expected to be completed in the next three months.

Among the off-grid plants installed so far, the notable ones are a 60KW plant at Raj Bhavan, the 40KW one at the official residence of the Patna High Court's Chief Justice, the plants at Vidyut Bhavan (energy department headquarters) and Abhilekh Bhavan with capacities of 50KW each and the 100KW plants at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, and Jai Prakash University in Saran.

All district hospitals, collectorates and district circuit houses have been connected to off-grid solar power plants with capacities between 8KW and 25KW. An additional 114 government buildings are expected to come under the same power grid - which once complete - will help generate solar energy worth 3.2 Mega Watt (MW).

"The off-grid and grid-connected rooftop solar power plants will help expand the availability of renewable energy in the state. We are also working on providing solar power parks in Bettiah (West Champaran), Banka, Aurangabad and Gaya. So far such parks having a cumulative capacity of 150MW have been commissioned, while other parks with power capacities of 48MW are under construction," said Lakshmanan.