Thursday, December 25, 2014: While working on the Model Solar City project, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has started producing solar energy to illuminate the administrative offices. With an aim of energy conservation, the civic body has also started installing the LED bulbs on the street lights. The central government had approved the 14531 million worth Model Solar City project, during 2013-14 fiscal.
In the first step, NMC had distributed the solar water heaters at the subsidised rates. Now, the NMC has already installed five solar photovoltaic power generators, also termed as solar powerpacks, with the capacity of 25kW each. Among these, two have been installed at main administrative office situated at Civil Lines, whereas one each have been installed in at Nehru Nagar, Lakadganj and Ashi Nagar zone offices. The systems were worth Rs 15 million, out of whhich 50 per cent was contributed by the central government.
As per the data given by the NMC, there has been a reduction of almost Rs 85,000 per month in the power bill of the main administrative office after the installation of solar powerpacks. The three zone offices have also seen a commendable reduction in their power bills. The administrative offices mostly uses the power generated by the solar powerpacks and the MSEDCL is considered only to fulfil the shortfall.
The NMC has now planned to install solar powerpacks at the rest of the seven administrative offices and hospitals. Under the solar water heater distribution scheme, NMC has provided kits to 1,270 individuals out of the total targeted 3,450. The main motive of the NMC Model Solar City project is to bring down the power consumption in the city by at least 10 per cent, including 5 per cent through the energy efficiency works whereas remaining 5 per cent by generating electricity by use of renewable energy.
