Odisha’s Lighthouses Go Solar
Odisha’s six lighthouses that have been providing safe voyage to mariners and navigators since the British era, have been solarised as part of a country-wide programme to power such establishments with renewable energy.
The solarisation of lighthouses in Odisha has come to an end. The lighthouses are now effectively functioning with solar renewable energy and solarisation process has so far been hassle-free, bereft of technical snags.
The lighthouses in Chandrabhaga, Puri (Puri district), Gopalpur, Prayagi ((Ganjam district), False-point (Kendrapara district) and Paradip (Jagatsinghpur district) have been solarised as per the initiative by the union ministry of shipping. Solar energy system has been put in place at the lighthouses to reduce carbon dioxide emission, according to officials of Directorate General of Lighthouse and Lightships (DGLL).
The beam of light of a lighthouse covers at least 18 km and maximum 36 km. And the generated renewable energy is able to meet with each of the lighthouses’ daily power requirement, said officials.
Paradip lighthouse has been brought under the solarisation project. At present we are able to generate one Kilo watt of solar energy to meet with send beam light signal. The solar plant is being further expanded, said head of Paradip lighthouse, B. K. Datta.
The lighthouses in Odisha were earlier operating on the conventional source of energy like electricity and diesel Generators. These have been replaced with solar energy as part of solarisation plan of union shipping ministry. All of the six lighthouses have been be powered by solar panels in a pollution control measure. The initiative has led to the use of green energy for environment-friendly measure.
As the lighthouses are lying in close proximity of serene sea beach, plans are afoot to develop these centres as tourist destinations. Already beautification of the lighthouse sites has been undertaken. As a result of which, there has been a marked increase in tourists’ footfall in all these six lighthouses in the state, observed officials of Directorate General of Lighthouse and Lightships (DGLL).
Source: porttoport.in
