All govt buildings to have solar plants by year-end

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 9

To make the UT a model solar city before 2030, the UT Administration has planned to install rooftop solar power plants on all government buildings by 2024 and on all private buildings by 2026.

1,200 applications received

• The cost of plant will be recovered by firm during the BOT period through the sale of electricity generated by these plants
• The authority concerned has received more than 1,200 applications for installation of plants
• House owners will get electricity at a consistent rate of Rs 3.23 per unit during the BOT period.
• Once the BOT period concludes, the ownership of the solar plant will get transferred to the consumer at no additional cost
• A house owner will have to provide nearly 500 sq ft of space for a 5kWp solar plant

Against the ambitious target to achieve 75MWp (Megawatt peak) of solar power in UT by December 2024, the Administration has already achieved the installation of 61.82 MWp grid-connected rooftop solar power plants on 4,633 government and private sites in the city. This has helped in producing 250.45 million units (MU) and a reduction in 1,72,811 MT CO2 till January 2024.

“Paryavaran Bhawan, Burail Jail complex and all government schools are net zero in terms of fulfilment of their energy requirement through solar power,” stated UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit during a media interaction here. Paryavaran Bhawan is the first five star rated building in the city as per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Standards.

Purohit said all government buildings would have 100% installation of solar photovoltaic technology (SPV) power plants by the end of 2024.

The city has been conferred with First Prize in the State Energy Efficiency Performance Award 2023 (Group-4), presented by President Droupadi Murmu on December 14, 2023, in New Delhi.

The largest floating solar photovoltaic technology (SPV) power plant in North India of 2000 kWp has been installed and commissioned at Waterworks, Sector 39, Chandigarh.

All government schools and the Burail jail are carbon neutral, he added.

The introduction of 80 electric buses has resulted in a reduction of 5300 MT of CO2 emission as on February 29, 2024, he said, adding that 100 more electric buses would be introduced shortly.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has decided to frame new guidelines for the installation of rooftop solar power plants under the Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) model.

Meanwhile, the UT Department of Science and Technology has set a target for the installation of 50 MWp grid-connected rooftop solar systems under the RESCO model on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis at residential houses in the city in two years.

The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) had in January last year granted approval to the Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) for the installation of grid-connected rooftop solar plants in the city for domestic consumers by a third party under the BOT model of RESCO.

The cost of installation will be recovered by the firm selected during the BOT period through the sale of electricity generated by these plants. CREST has received more than 1,200 applications for installation of plants. Under the RESCO model, house owners will get electricity at a consistent rate of Rs 3.23 per unit during the BOT period.

Once the BOT period concludes, the ownership of the solar plant will get transferred to the consumer at no additional cost. Under the new model, the house owner will have to provide nearly 500 sq ft of space for a 5kWp solar plant.

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