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All government buildings in the twin cities will be fitted with solar panels on the their rooftops by June next year to generate renewable energy. 

 

The state government has already floated a company called Odisha Green Energy Development Corporation, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Limited, for this purpose.

 

Managing director of the hydro power corporation Sahdev Khatua said: “We inked an MoU with the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary, earlier this month to get technical support to carry out the project.”

 

Khatua said the project would be developed on a public-private partnership mode and on-grid solar power would be produced. “Earlier, in case of a rooftop solar panel generating power, the entire electricity produced had to be consumed by that building. With modern technology, the power produced from a rooftop can be transmitted to other buildings through a grid. It can be connected to the existing main power line,” he said.

 

The government is planning to generate at least 5MW power from the rooftops in the two cities. “With 5MW of power, the government buildings in the two cities can cut their power bill by Rs 4 crore,” he said.

 

The twin cities consume approximately 7.07 million units of electricity a day and the government buildings consume 19 million units a month.

 

“The hydro power corporation will invest Rs 45 crore on the project to get it started,” Khatua said.

 

A hydro power corporation official said any individual could install solar power panels by spending a small amount of money. “For one kilowatt of power, one has to spend only about Rs 90,000. If one goes for solar power, it will have no adverse impact on the building,” the official said.

 

The green energy development corporation is working out a plan to tap 16,230MW solar energy as evaluated by the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency. “According to the long-term plan, the state aims to generate 14,000MW solar power, 1,700MW wind power, 350MW power from biogas, 160MW from small hydel power projects and the rest from municipal wastes,” he said.

 

The official said: “We are now producing 13MW of power and it is directly distributed to the feeder. Most of the power is now being produced in Balangir district,” he said.

 

Fifty kilowatt of solar power is already being by panels installed on top of the state secretariat. 

 

Besides government buildings, the state government has an ambitious plan to install solar power at SCB medical college in Cuttack, MKCG medical college in Berhampur, VSS medical college in Burla and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. 

 

 

Source: The Telegraph