To tap sun’s radiant energy, the UT Administration is up for some innovative ideas. The latest initiative in this endeavor would be construction of solar cycle stands.
Taking a cue from foreign countries, the UT Administration has decided to construct solar cycle stands to generate electricity in Chandigarh. The UT Science and Technology Department has chalked out a proposal to develop solar cycle stand in a government school here. As per the proposal, the solar cycle stand would be developed on an area of 1000 sq ft in Government Model School Sector 46. And, 15 KWp solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plant would be commissioned at the rooftop of solar cycle stand.
The electricity produced would be then either stored in the battery bank or directly used for running the electrical appliances in the school. The SPV power plant installed at the rooftop would be interactive with the grid system so that the extra power supply could be transferred to the main grid system of the city.
The solar cycle stands are widely used for lighting in parking lots and schools in countries like United States, Japan among others while India is yet to venture into this revolutionary urban lighting concept. While talking to The Pioneer, Santosh Kumar, UT Director Science and Technology Department said, “The UT Science and Technology Department has finalized a proposal to develop solar cycle stand in Government Model School Sector 46 here.”
“The power generated from the SPV power plant would be used to run electric equipments in the school. If the maiden experiment in this regard turns out productive, more solar cycle stands would be constructed in other government schools to tap sun energy,” he added. For harnessing the sun energy to provide power support to various government buildings, the Department of Science and Technology has set priorities to carry out the work during the financial year 2013-14. Next in the pipeline would be installation of SPV power plants on more government buildings in Chandigarh. This includes commissioning of SPV power plants at lake Sports Complex, IRB Complex at Sarangpur, GMCH Sector -32, Post Graduate College Sector 46 among others.
Chugging towards harnessing sun energy, the UT Science and Technology Department is also working to install solar tree in Chandigarh. The solar tree is a decorative means of producing solar energy and the concept of solar trees was first sprouted in Vienna, the capital city of Austria.