Kolhapur Municipal Corporation to install solar panels on all its bldgs

The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) is going to set up solar panels at all its divisional offices and buildings in the city to save expenses on electricity consumption.
In the first phase, the KMC is going to set up solar panels on its Shivaji Market divisional ward office building for which the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (Mahaurja) has sanctioned Rs 24 lakh.

The solar panels will be of 20 kw (kilo-watt) and the KMC is going to save around Rs 20,000 every month required to pay electricity bills for the entire office.
Netradip Sarnobat, chief city engineer of the KMC, said, “The agency has agreed to sanction 100% grants for setting up the panels. Recently, we approved the firm hired to set up the panel and maintain it for the next five years. The work to set up the panels and other required equipment will be completed in the next few weeks.”

He added, “The solar panels will help supply uninterrupted power to the officials of estate department, LBT department, law department and project department located in the Shivaji Market.”

The KMC spends around Rs 26 crore every year to pay the electricity bills. The large part of the electricity is consumed for lighting street lights and then for KMC’s offices, hospitals, clinics and other small establishments.

The KMC is going to initiate an energy audit soon for which the process to appoint the consultant has begun. The total amount of expenditure on the electricity bills is around 8% to 10% of the total annual outlay.

The civic officials claim the energy audit and measures such as setting up of solar panels will help reduce the expenditure on electricity bills by around Rs 7 crore every year.

“We are also planning to install LED street lights across the city. The LED lights will help reduce electricity consumption significantly. The electricity consumption over the street lights will come down to around 60% after LED lights are installed,” said Sarnobat.

Source:TOI