The Corporation will soon entrust ICLEI South Asia, a consultancy
agency, to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the  proposed
Solar City project.

The proposal to award the DPR preparation to
ICLEI will be presented at the first Council meeting after the
Corporation Budget session on Saturday. Once the Council gives its nod,
the agency will be awarded with the work which is expected to be
completed in three months. The estimated cost for DPR preparation is `10
lakh.

The Solar City project is being implemented as part of the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s nationwide programme to promote
solar cities and to support urban local bodies in guiding their cities
towards becoming ‘renewable’ energy cities.

A top official with
the Corporation said that the Solar City project will focus on
installing solar energy systems to power streetlights, garden lights,
households, hotels and restaurants and major administrative offices.
Along with installing new solar-based devices, the project will mainly
focus on increasing the energy efficiency of the existing system,
thereby saving energy.

“The electricity charges were hiked
recently and the Corporation is paying nearly `80 lakh to the Kerala
State Electricity Board (KSEB)every month as electricity charges for
street lighting and administrative offices. Under the project, the major
spots in the city will be illuminated with solar lights, thereby
promoting increased use of renewable energy. This will help bring down
the electricity charges considerably,” he said.

Under the scheme,
automatic switching system will be introduced for street lighting and 
this will help the KSEB prevent energy loss as a majority of the street
lights are not switched on and off on a timely basis.

The solar
city project also will promote the usage of solar devices such as solar
cooking systems, photovoltaic systems, solar air-conditioning, solar
water heating systems and solar steam generating systems in various
households.