To appoint solar power operator soon
Taking a leaf out of the book of Gujarat’s ‘solar power generation model’, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to appoint an operator which would generate solar power in the New Delhi area. While NDMC had sent its officials to Gujarat to inspect their model, the civic body which also supplies power in the posh New Delhi area is imbibing their features into its ambitious project of turning its area into a ‘Solar City’.
The civic agency had sent one of its officials to Gujarat along with others from the Delhi government to take stalk of its solar projects earlier this month. “The findings of the Gujarat model on solar energy have been submitted to the NDMC as well as the Government. A master plan has been drawn for rooftop solar energy generation and injection to NDMC grid. We are considering taking up Gandhinagar’s rent-a-roof model for solar power generation as well,” said AW Ansari, Joint Director (Project), who the civic body had sent to Gujarat on its behalf. The agency already has solar water heaters installed in all its schools, offices, hostels and other associated buildings.
The NDMC also acts as a distribution company in the Capital as it supplies power in the New Delhi area. Keeping this in view, the civic body has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) inviting operators who would produce solar power in New Delhi area. “The NDMC will appoint an operator to identify, design, erect, install, test and commission rooftop solar units on all Government building and private buildings on Rural Electric Supply Cooperative (RESCO) framework as defined by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE),” said an official. The MNRE is the nodal Ministry of Government of India for all matters relating to new and renewable energy for the Solar City project.
The civic agency will procure all the solar power generated by the operator on rates determined by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission. “NDMC will act as a model agency to ensure timely payment to premise owner and will also ensure timely payment for injected owner to the NDMC grid. We are expecting to generate almost eight MW of roof top solar energy within a year,” the official informed.
“We being a discom have chalked out the area for the Solar City project which has been given to us by the MNRE. For this the detailed project report (DPR) was prepared through a consultant for generation of roof top photo-voltaic electricity on all our major buildings,” added the official. Earlier this year, the NDMC had signed an MOU with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for development of solar rooftop on all its buildings.