D R Bhaskar, Nodal Officer, Municipal Corporation Faridabad receiving the Award from M Ramachandran, Distinguished Fellow, Skoch Development Foundation

The objective of the project was maximum deployment of solar energy devices to promote energy conservation in different type of units such as residential, non-residential, commercial, industrial and institutional, since the conventional sources of energy such as petrol, diesel are depleting fast. The per capita consumption of electricity in Faridabad has increased from 501 KWh in 2001 to 700 KWh in 2007-08 and it is further increasing @ 7 per cent per annum. Presently, there is a deficit of around 12 per cent availability of power in the District. Accordingly, it was proposed that power generation from solar may be promoted in the district. Due to its efforts, Faridabad has been declared a Solar City by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India. Deployment of solar energy projects has been taken in Faridabad’s Smart City Plan also. It is targeting to generate 10 per cent of electricity by renewable energy sources.

Challenges

The schools, hospitals, Police Stations in the district have been facing problems due to unscheduled power cuts. To overcome this problem, generators are being used, which involve high cost in energy production and also result in environmental pollution. To promote the use of solar energy projects, one of the challenges was the high cost of the technology, lack of trained manpower in the city and lack of awareness about the systems.

Solution

To increase the deployment of solar energy devices, installation of solar water heating systems and solar power plants were made mandatory for certain categories of buildings by way of notification of the government. Subsidy is also being given to non-commercial and domestic users to reduce the cost of deployment of devices.

Till date 32 establishments have installed solar power system, including: Grand Columbus International School (90 kWp); GUDI Exports (30 kWp); Whirlpool (100 kWp); 9 Metro Stations (1800 kWp); NHPC (70 kWp); Lingyas University (300 kWp); YMCA University (200 kWp) and so on. In all, a total capacity of 3,582 KWh has been installed.

In addition, solar LED based street lighting system in government offices, schools, community centres, group housing societies in the district has been installed. A total of 304 streetlights have been installed till date. These include: National Institute of Financial Management; Aggarwal College, Ballabhgarh; The Ujjawal Apartments (Co-op Group Housing Society); Government College for Women; Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI); Manav Rachna International University; and, Radhey Radhey Co-op Group Housing Society.

Before the start of the project, there was no adoption of these devices. However, the deployment of solar devices have picked up ever since. Since, it was made mandatory to install the solar systems in certain categories of buildings, it has been made mandatory to install solar systems to get the occupation certificate of new buildings.

Outcome

The cost of generating electricity from solar energy plants is R7 per unit. And, people are already paying R7.5 to 8.5 per unit. City plans to increase the deployment of solar energy power plants so that the 10 per cent of the energy requirements of the Smart City is met by renewable energy. Since Faridabad is already declared a Solar City, its renewable energy initiatives are further expanding to amalgamate with its Smart City initiatives.

Further measures being adopted are efficient building envelop; efficient HVAC and electrical systems; and, integration of solar water heating system.