Monday, February 24, 2014: Chandigarh seems to be taking the power of solar energy a tad too seriously. A school in the city will now have a solar powered cycle stand. The sector 46 government school will now generate its own power by way of a small solar power plant unit. The unit will serve for dual purposes of providing a sun-shade space for cycle parking and the solar panels will produce power.
The 15 KW solar powered cycle stand is likely to generate more than 20,000 units of electricity per year. As the school’s average annual consumption is, approximately 18,000, it further plans to pass-away the excess power to the city’s power department.
The solar stand is built at cost of Rs 187,000 via the MPLAD scheme, and constructed by the Chandigarh Renewal Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST). CREST society works under the department of science & technology, Union Territory of Chandigarh.
The stand is 1,050 sq feet and can house more than 100 cycles. A bi-directional meter (to measure import and export readings) is installed, that will read the yearly import of power from the electricity department and export of solar power back to the department.
