Guntur emerging as a solar power house

A view of solar rooftop photo voltaic power panels on the Collector Office in Guntur

Solar panels set up at the traffic junction near Hindu College in the city

Guntur district is emerging as a solar power house with the government and private establishments showing keen interest in tapping the solar power.

All the government establishments, including the office of District Collector, Zilla Parishad, Rural Water Supply, 17 Mandal Parishad Development Offices are now being powered by solar power.

The Guntur Municipal Corporation has a combined solar power generation of 110 Mega Watt, including street lighting in parks, walking tracks, high level water reservoirs, traffic junctions.

The Acharya Nagarjuna University has set up solar power generation unit of 50 MW powering the administrative buildings, Centre for Distance Education and the Library.

A private educational trust at Pittalavanipalem near Bapatla, R.K Educational Society, has started generating 80 K.W of solar power for powering its buildings.

“We are promoting the use of solar energy in a big way in the district. We are fortunate to have the support of district administration in this initiative,’’ said District Manager, New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra 

Pradesh Ltd (NREDCAP) G. Harnath Babu told The Hindu on Tuesday.

 

New initiative

A new initiative, Net Metering of Solar Rooftop Photovoltaic Power (SPV) Systems- is being introduced shortly under which excess power generated on rooftops on households, industries and commercial buildings could be fed into the grid.

In the grid interactive rooftop or SPV system, the DC power generated from the SPV panel is converted to AC power using power conditioning unit and is fed into the grid.

The Discom would pay Rs.3.50 per unit of solar power fed into the grid under Net Metering System, which has now been extended to single phase customers.

The incentives include 30 per cent of financial assistance through banks (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Mission) for domestic use up to 1 K.W and for industrial use up to 100 K.W. The State Government would provide 20 per cent subsidy up to 3 K.W capacity in domestic sector only.

The payment of the pooled cost would be effective for seven years from the date of establishment of the plant.