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.