Jamuria (Asansol), June 22: The foundation stone for the country’s first solar power plant was laid here today.

The 2MW plant is being set up by the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation on 4.5 acres provided by the Dishergarh Power Supply Corporation, which provides electricity to coal mines in Bengal and Jharkhand.

“The power generated here will be fed to the Dishergarh grid. The plant is expected to be completed in six months,” said S.P. Gon Choudhuri, the green energy corporation director.

Solar plants that the corporation plans to build in collaboration with private firms like Reliance and Videocon are likely to generate around 150MW by 2012. “One such plant, in Burdwan’s Raina, will produce about 6MW from rice husk from July,” Gon Choudhuri said. So far, solar power had been generated on a small scale in the Sunderbans.

Power minister Mrinal Banerjee laid the foundation stone at Jamuria, 235km from Calcutta.