Holy city gradually switches to clean energy source

Neha Saini

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 28

Breaking the chain of holy city’s unhealthy relationship with the environment, several institutions and buildings have switched to clean energy, promoting the use of solar power.

A 775 KW solar energy plant has been inaugurated on the historic Khalsa College campus, paving the way for others to follow. The institution had been working on the mega project for the past two years.

Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) president Satyajit Singh Majithia inaugurated the plant that will save 3,268 tonnes of carbons and 7,567 barrel crude oil annually.

Majithia said the idea was to opt for a sustainable source of energy. “The plant will drastically reduce the carbon footprint and generate the uninterrupted power supply for the colleges and institutions. The panels will generate electricity from the sunlight, which will minimize the use of thermal and hydro-based power, thus cutting costs and adopting a natural way of lighting and other use of energy,” added Majithia.

He said there would be no hazardous impact of installation of panels on the heritage building.

Of the 18 educational institutions run by the college, six have already switched to solar energy completely. Talking about the tie-up with Amplus, the company, which has installed the project, RMS Chinna, secretary, KCGC, said, “The shift will benefit the colleges and schools economically as the per unit cost of power will come down from more than Rs7 per unit of electricity to Rs4 per unit.”

In the past two years, several iconic and major institutions have switched to clean energy in the city.

Punjab Natshala had installed its solar power plant of 20 KW capacity two years ago.

The GNDU has also got a rooftop solar energy plant of 3 MW capacity under the Union Government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), which will be made operational soon.

Manjyot Babber, a businessman, runs his factory of machinery parts with the help of a 20-KW solar power unit, which has cut down on his power bills.

Residential buildings too have solar panels up to 1,200 KW.