Delhi Police Goes With Solar To Power Beat Booth At India Gate

On December 26^tht  Delhi Police set up its first solar energy-enabled “modern beat booth”, which is also water, fire and vandalism proof, at the iconic India Gate.

The beat booth was inaugurated by special commissioner of police, law and order, south zone, Satish Golchha. As per Mr Anil Mittal, Additional PRO (Delhi Police), the booth is dust proof and solar energy enabled. The storage capacity of the plant is 10 hours. It is remote Wi-Fi-enabled for digital display of informative or awareness messages on LED panels installed on top of it and have a public announcement system. with its hundreds of booths spread across the city, including those at traffic islands, the possibilities for a further spread of solar systems in these are significant.

The cabin of the present booth is equipped with extreme weather regulator, movable wardrobe, first-aid facility and a public facilitation desk.

Police officials say that similar police booths with solar-powered LED panels will soon be seen. Besides this Delhi Police has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) for the installation of solar power panels on the rooftops of over their 200 buildings across the national capital in 2019. The agreement was signed between the senior SECI officials and Delhi Police in the presence of Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik at the city police headquarters. The installation process is expected to be completed early next year.

Both rooftop solar, and distributed solar applications like the one seen in the beat booth, offer massive opportunities for a supply side ecosystem that is truly domestic, and to that extent, creates opportunities, jobs as well as a greener city. One truly hopes that other police forces and similarly placed services, be it forest services or water departments, will also take steps to solarise their small outposts using solar power in 2021.