Solar panel agency as well misses installation deadline
CHANDIGARH: Even the agency that fixed a May 18 deadline for the city to install rooftop solar-energy plants hasn’t stuck to it.
During a meeting with officials of Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology Promotion Society (Crest) here on Monday, the Sector-22 government houses resident welfare society reminded Crest that it still had to install these plants atop 422 government houses. Crest claims to have installed the plants atop 70 government houses in the first phase and floated a tender for covering another 118 houses in the second phase.
Welfare society president Vinod Vashisht sat with officials from Crest and the estate office in this meeting called to take stock of the rooftop plant installation work at the government houses. It came up during the discussion that the order to install solar-energy plants atop private and government houses had drawn a placid response in the past two years. “The government buildings of Chandigarh have photovoltaic-cell rooftop plants already and work is on to install more for the raw water storage tanks and all 42 community centres,” Vashisht said.
He also said the buildings with a plot size of 500 square yards and more were required to have built rooftop solar-energy plants within two years of the first order on May 18, 2016. Of 6,000 houses of this size, only 225 have this system, based on a Crest survey. The agency is supposed to cover 422 government houses but it has finished not even 20% of the job in two years. “The government is expected to rather set an example for the private house owners to follow. People are watching the government response,” Vashisht said.
He suggested that the installation deadline be extended by a year instead of six months, if not yet notified.
The Federation of Sector Welfare Associations of Chandigarh (Foswac) has also asked the UT Administration to extend the deadline for installing solar-power plants atop residential buildings in the city. For the owners of 500-square-yard and bigger plots, this deadline expired on May 18, and in a memorandum for extension was handed over to the UT adviser.
The association stated in the letter a few days ago that residents wanted to install the rooftop plants but the circumstances were beyond the control of many. All resident welfare associations have suggested in a meeting that the deadline for installation be extended to help their members get solar-energy panels installed at their houses.
Foswac general secretary J S Gogia said: “Many residents are in the process of installing these panels but have hit delays because of unavoidable reasons, which is why they ask for an extension.”
Sector-10 RWA organising secretary Gurnam Singh said: “My own association discussed this issue after all residents of the sector received a notice from the administration to install the rooftop solar-power plants by May 18. For many residents, this was too early and so they requested the RWA to make a case for extension.” He said the resident welfare association of Sector 10 now planned to take up the matter with the department concerned and the area councillor, whose intervention he feels will compel the Chandigarh authorities to consider the demand.
The government houses resident welfare society of Sector 22 has done a survey to find out whether or not it is feasible to install rooftop solar-energy panels in this housing cluster. It will prepare a report about it. The society’s executive committee has decided to conduct a survey to find out how economical the rooftop panel was, so that residents could decide whether to go for it or not.
In the meeting, the feasibility of installing 30-kilowatt solar-energy plants atop government buildings, offices, educational institutes, and universities was also discussed. The government’s notification specifies the minimum generating capacity of the solar-energy plant required for particular plot sizes. The plot owners they can also conduct the survey about their houses and make a suggestion to the Chandigarh Administration for this service.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
