With an eye to promote solar energy resources in the state, the Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency (MANIREDA) has decided to install around 3,340 solar water heaters in houses.
“So far, we have installed solar heaters in 800 houses and the remaining will be installed in the coming years. The appliance saves a lot of energy and reduces air pollution,” L Manglem Singh, director of MANIREDA has reportedly said.
According to the report, the installations began in last September and have become quite popular among the consumers in the state. Officials of MANIREDA inspected the installed solar heaters to check that the appliances were properly installed and were being used in the right manner.
The water heaters to be installed have been purchased from Hyderabad and will be offered to the households at a subsidised rate. This initiative is a part of a project that gets contributions from the Centre, the North Eastern Council (NEC) and Manipur government.
It has come to our notice that, Manipur requires about 180 MW power during peak hours and using solar energy could help the state meet its power requirement. “It saves a lot of cooking gas as we use hot water from the solar heater for cooking and washing. It is also environment-friendly and has reduced our electric bill considerably,” R K Ranjan Singh, a retired official of Manipur University was quoted as saying in the report.
