The Hindu                11.06.2013

Solar power from Corporation buildings in 2 yrs

Staff Reporter

Civic body advances deadline by a year.

Solar energy will soon contribute to the power requirements of the 3,500 buildings of Chennai Corporation. The civic body has set a two-year deadline for the installation of solar panels in all its buildings.

The civic body will install solar panels in the 25,000 sq ft area on top of the new Ripon Buildings Annexe. However, Ripon Buildings will not have the panels as their weight is likely to affect the heritage building.

A few months ago, the civic body announced that in three years’ time, all its buildings would produce solar power.

Now, the deadline has been advanced by a year and efforts are under way to speed up the process. Schools, hospitals, emergency obstetric care centres, community centres and office buildings will all generate their own power.

Other large buildings where a considerable amount of solar power is likely to be generated include Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet. The terrace of the building has over 60,000 sq ft of open space.

A few months ago, the civic body initiated a pilot project in four of Chennai Corporation’s 15 zonal offices. It commissioned six solar power plants, at a cost of Rs. 16 lakh, to light up portions of such buildings.

It announced that Basin Bridge zonal office will have the capacity to generate 5 kilowatts of solar power. The zonal offices at Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam and Adyar; street light office at Shenoy Nagar and the corporation’s electrical lab and stores in Chintadripet have one kilowatt capacity plants, said officials.

The civic body has sought guidance relating to specifications and norms from the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency.

The solar power supply is part of the civic body’s efforts to become more environment-friendly.

Initially, Chennai Corporation had announced a plan to tap solar energy in 2009. But its implementation got delayed by a few years.

Residents in areas such as Kalakshetra Colony last week requested the Corporation for assistance in installing solar power generating facilities in residential properties.

The civic body with the support of Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency is likely to help the residents find the cheapest equipment for tapping solar power.

The Hindu                 30.05.2013

Coimbatore Corporation to do cost-benefit analysis for solar cookers

Coimbatore Corporation will soon do a cost-benefit analysis for the solar cookers it plans to install at the 16 higher secondary schools.

The civic body at its May 21 council meeting resolved to install solar cookers in the schools for preparing noon meal for students from Classes I to X.

It also resolved to spend an approximate Rs. 10 lakh for the purpose. It said that if the Corporation were to use the solar cookers it would bring down the use of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders and also the cost.

According to sources, the Corporation had estimated that it would have to spend around Rs. 5 lakh for the cookers after factoring in the subsidy, if any, from the Central and State Governments. This would do away the need for LPG cylinders at the 16 schools.

Once the use of the solar cookers was found to be beneficial, the civic body would extend it to the 77 centres, from where it served noon meal to over 8,700 students.

Though the Corporation had said that the solar cooker would help it bring down cost, the reality is that 50 of the 77 Corporation schools with facility to cook using LPG were not doing so.

The reason: cost.

Sources in the Corporation said that the State Government paid the Corporation 24 paise a child a day towards fuel. With this money it was impossible for the noon meal organisers to buy even firewood.

The money the Government sends the Corporation to be spent on a student taking noon meal was Rs. 1.30 and Rs. 1.70 for students in classes I to V and Rs. 1.40 and Rs. 1.80 for students in classes VI to X.

Of those, the Rs. 1.30 and Rs. 1.40 are on days when pulses are not used. And the other two are the expenditures on days when pulses are used.

The sources said that the Corporation could not save on firewood or fuel because that was a negligible amount, which did not reflect the reality. If at all, the solar cooker would make the lives of cooks easier in that they would be spared of the trouble of battling smoke and sitting for long in front of the stove.

The sources said that it easily took more than two hours for the noon meals cooks to prepare food for around 100 children. And then there was the preparatory work.

When for a short time the cooks were given LPG cylinders, they found the task easier. But they had to give up using LPG cylinders because the money allotted for fuel was insufficient.

A noon meal centre serving 100 children would require four to five cylinders a month and that too the cylinders would have to be bought at commercial rate. Whereas the Government’s 24-paisa-a-child-a-day worked out to a mere Rs. 480 a month.

The sources wanted the Corporation to bring in a system that would make the cooking easier.