Solar panels to light up hoardings in city

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 22

In a first, the city has taken another step towards sustainable and clean energy consumption by putting up advertising boards that run on solar power. These hoardings have been put up by advertisers from Jallandhar, who were allotted space by the Municipal Corporation (MC), Amritsar.

While inaugurating solar hoardings, Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora and Municipal Commissioner Sonali Giri encouraged more advertisers to switch over to green energy in order to reduce dependency on electricity supplied by the power corporation.

“These hoardings are an individual initiative of an advertiser. We encourage shopkeepers and mall owners to switch over to solar power for lighting up billboards. We have also come up with a plan to put more such hoardings at different areas across the city,” said Sonali Giri.

“We have allotted space for 150 more such advertising boards, out of which hoardings have been installed at six,”she added.

The purpose of installing solar hoarding is to cut down energy bills, which is a long-term benefit. The initial cost of installation of such hoarding comes to Rs 65,000.

In its efforts to promote clean energy, the MC has already made it mandatory for commercial buildings to have a rainwater harvesting system. The civic body also provides subsidy on installation of solar power units.