Soon, solar power would light up schools in the City Beautiful. To tap sun’s radiant energy, the UT Administration would commission solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants in 30 Government schools of the city.
The UT Science and Technology Department has sent a proposal to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to install rooftop SPV power plants in 30 Government schools in the union territory of Chandigarh. As per UT’s proposal, each proposed school would have SPV power plant of 30-35 kwp.
The project is estimated to cost the UT Administration over Rs20 crore. The proposed SPV power plant would be interactive with the grid system so as to transfer the extra power supply to the main grid system of Chandigarh. The electricity generated by SPV power plant would be directly used for running the electrical appliances in the school premises.
At present, only one Government school in the union territory has SPV power plant installed at its rooftop. A 50 KWp grid interactive rooftop SPV power plant is operational at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 46 here.
The UT Science and Technology Department has also planned to commission SPV power plants in all government schools of the city in next two years. The move comes after the directions from Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil to install SPV power plants in educational institutes.
While talking to The Pioneer, Director UT Science and Technology Department, Santosh Kumar said that the Department will commission SPV power plants in 30 Government schools in the city. A proposal regarding this has been sent to the MNRE for approval.”
He said, “A SPV power plant of 30-35 kwp in small schools and 50-60 kwp in big schools of the union territory of Chandigarh have been proposed. After MNRE’s approval, the SPV power plants are likely to be installed in 30 schools by the end of this year.”
“The Department of Science and Technology has planned to commission SPV power plants in all the schools of union territory in next two years. So far, SPV power plants are operational in 11 Government buildings of the city,” he added.
Santosh said, “Rooftop SPV power plants would also be installed in rehabilitation colony constructed in Dhanas by the Administration. We are working on the proposal and it would be finalized soon.”
Besides, 1860 KWp solar photovoltaic systems at 12 different government buildings here are under installation stage and likely to be completed soon.
Widening the ambit of its initiatives under the ambitious ‘model solar city’ project of Chandigarh, the UT Science and Technology Department has recently set up solar cycle stand in Government Model School Sector 46 here.
The Department has also planned to install country’s largest rooftop SPV power plant in a single institution here. A 1000 KWp SPV power plant would be set up at PEC University of Technology in Sector 12.
Notably, the ambitious project of developing Chandigarh as a ‘model solar city’ was formally launched by Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah in July this year.