Wednesday, December 03, 2014: Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, secretary Upendra Tripathy officially inaugurated 500 KWp rooftop solar PV project at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. This is the first time that a solar project has been inaugurated in an educational institution in the country.
KISS has several other modern facilities like Wi-Fi system, CCTV cameras, environment-friendly projects like bio gas plant, drinking water treatment plant, sewage treatment plant, solar water heating system etc. Solar Energy Corporation of India’s rooftop solar program initiated the project. Solar Energy Corporation of India is a Government of India organisation and it comes under Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The corporation has offered 30 per cent subsidy on the project cost.
The project has been built at the cost of around Rs 40 million and it’s expected to generate more than 0.7 million units of electricity. The project is targeted to reduce emission of carbon dioxide by 650 tonnes every year. The educational institute contributed 20 per cent of the project cost and 50 per cent was contributed by Power Finance Corporation (PFC), while 30 per cent came as a subsidy through SECI. The project completed its set-up in just 7-8 months and the plant will supply solar power to the institute during day time for next 25 years. That means dependence on grid power supply will reduce and it will help generate green and clean power furthermore.
Thousands of tribal students at the institute were addressed by Tripathy during the inauguration event. The event was also attended by Rajendra Nimje, MD, SECI, Rakesh Kumar, director, SECI, R.S. Dhillon, GM (projects), Power Finance Corporation of India, B.K. Panda, regional director, MNRE, Atulya Kumar Mohanty, AGM, SECI and several other senior officials of central and state government agencies. Tripathy shared his views on environmental benefits of solar energy and showed the importance why India is trying to develop 100,000MW solar power by 2020. If this plan materialises, it will also create several job opportunities.
He also hoped that these opportunities will reach the state of Odisha too and more proposals will be sent to SECI / MNRE for more such projects in the state. Odisha can be made into a major player in solar energy sector and the state can also have significant contribution towards National Solar Mission.
