06 Oct 2021  |   06:21am IST

Smart city Panjim to be lit up with solar power

State capital’s electricity needs to be met through roof-top solar power plants
Smart city Panjim to be  lit up with solar power

Team Herald

PANJIM: After being chosen as Smart City, the Goa government has now selected Panjim as a Solar City, whose electricity needs would be entirely met through roof-top solar power plants.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India had asked all States to identify at least one city (either the capital city or any renowned tourist destination) to be developed as a Solar City in which all households will have rooftop solar plants and the energy needs of the city will be entirely met by solar energy and other renewable energy sources. 

In addition to identifying the Solar City, the States were also asked to finalise an action plan for developing the identified city as a Solar City in line with the concept prepared by the MNRE and implement this in a time-bound manner. 

Accordingly, the Goa government has selected the capital city, which has already been declared as Smart City by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. 

The government on Monday appointed Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) member secretary Sanjeev Joglekar as the nodal officer for Solar City.

At the request of the Imagine Panjim Smart City Development Limited, GEDA carried out an inspection in the capital city for the feasibility of the installation of on grid solar power plants on the roof-top of various government buildings.

Depending upon the availability of the roof, the shadow free area and the electrical sanction load the survey was carried out to install the roof-top/ground mounted solar power plants as per the regulation of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) under the net/virtual metering system on 34 locations. 

All the solar power plants will be installed on the roof of the government buildings except one location ie 500kW at EDC parking space at Patto-Panjim, where a car parking shed will be erected and solar panels will be installed above the structure, which will serve as shade for cars as well generate power, which will be fed to the nearest electricity sub-station. 

As per the estimates prepared for 34 locations by GEDA, an aggregated capacity of 2150 kWp solar grid connected power plant can be installed on the given locations with net/virtual metering system for an estimated amount of Rs 1,261.45 lakh.  

When contacted, Joglekar told Herald that only 2 MW of solar power can be installed on roof-top of government buildings while, the solar power requirement of the capital city is 22 MW. 

“It is a challenge for us to achieve additional 20 MW and we will collaborate with anybody to achieve the target,” he said, adding that MNRE has given guidelines on how to achieve the targets.

Joglekar further said that since fitting roof-top solar power is a 25 years commitment the nodal agency will have to identify buildings which, have stability and strong structures.

The government is providing 50 per cent subsidy to individuals installing roof-top solar power. So far nearly 100 individuals have installed roof-top solar power on their residential houses and commercial places and the government also disbursed subsidy amounting to Rs 1.8 crore.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar