Secunderabad Cantonment Board goes slow on solar plan
At present, the other pump houses that still functioning with the help of traditional electricity are in AOC, Gun Rock, Mahendra Hills, Gun Bazaar, Rudranagar and Bowenpally.
Hyderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), which was the first cantonment in the country to switch from traditional electricity to solar power, has now been forced to go slow on its plans to increase its solar power generation due to the paucity of funds from the Ministry of Defence.
The board, which is generating solar energy of close to 350 kilowatt (Kw) of power through solar power panels fixed at the pump houses at Balamrai and Karkhana and on the SCB head office rooftop, is waiting for funds to increase the generation capacity to 1 megawatt (Mw).
The two solar plants in Balamrai and Karkhana came up at a cost of Rs 1 crore in 2015 under the Green Energy Initiative.
According to board officials, the SCB has been actively involved in establishing sustainable sources of green energy to reduce carbon emission and to protect the environment. However, due to lack of funds, the 1 Mw project, which would take this effort forward, has been in limbo for the last three years.
With the help of the solar panels at Balamrai and Karkhana and at the head office, there was a saving of Rs 50 lakh annually in electricity bills.
The Balamrai solar power plant (80 KW) is being used for pumps and motors while the Kharkana plant (140 KW) is generating power for street lights in Kharkana and surroundings.
The solar panels on the SCB office rooftop too have given results. From monthly power bills of Rs 1 lakh, the office is now getting a bill of a mere Rs 7,000 every month, resulting in a saving of over Rs 90,000.
SCB Superintendent (Water and Streetlights) M Raj Kumar said 35 per cent of the work on the 1-MW project was completed, while the rest would be completed once funds were available.
Once the funds are released, more solar power plants would come up in the pump houses and open lands in SCB areas. The board needs more than Rs 4 crore to complete the pending project, the officials said.
At present, the other pump houses that still functioning with the help of traditional electricity are in AOC, Gun Rock, Mahendra Hills, Gun Bazaar, Rudranagar and Bowenpally.
SCB vice-president J Ramakrishna said funds that were to be released by the Ministry of Defence under the Smart Cantonment Board Project too were yet to come.
“We are waiting for funds for more than a year and not a single rupee has been released to the board so far,” he said.
Source: telanganatoday
