Chandigarh Administration Seeks Power Usage Details With Plans to Go Solar

The Chandigarh Administration has asked different departments in the Union Territory with their own buildings to provide details of their power consumption to the UT, as it plans to install rooftop solar power systems on government buildings.

The Chandigarh Administration has asked different departments in the Union Territory with their own buildings to provide details of their power consumption to the UT.

The UT Administration plans to use the information to devise a method and plan for installing rooftop solar power systems on government buildings.

Recently, the administration had written to different department heads to provide details of spaces available for installation of solar power plants to meet solar energy target set by the Union government which had (in 2008) selected Chandigarh to be developed as model solar city, with a target of generating 69MW of solar energy by 2022 through net and gross metering.

Chandigarh Renewal Energy, Science and Technology Promotion Society (Crest) has only managed to install solar power plant with a capacity of 22 MW in the last seven years.

The UT administration had already approved the detailed project report (DPR) of installation of 800kW solar power plants worth Rs 4.5 crore at the parking area of the new lake at Sector 42. Off which, 90 kW will be reserved for EV charging station.

CREST also plans to install a 3MW solar plant on the N-choe, a seasonal rivulet that passes through Garden of Springs, Sector 53, at the southern end of Chandigarh. It would be first of its kind solar plant on the rivulet.

To encourage residents for the installation of solar plants, the Chandigarh administration has already started transferring subsidy for installing solar plants on their rooftops, to residents, online. Earlier, the administration used to give cheques to residents.