This summer, Kochi school to go solar

The Mar Thoma Education Trust, which runs two educational institutions in the city, plans to go solar this summer.

The Mar Thoma Public School at Edachira near Kakkanad accommodates 1,500 students and consumes an average of 65kW per month.

The trust plans to introduce rooftop panels in the school and the Marthoma School of Management Studies, and have invited quotations for setting up solar panels that can generate up to 100kW.

“The solar initiative of the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) inspired us. But the biggest problem here is that we don’t have land wealth like the Cial. We are looking to utilize our rooftops to generate the required electricity,” said Koshy Reju Thomas, secretary of Mar Thoma Education Trust.

He said that the increasing rates for electricity have served as a significant motivation for the management to consider alternative source of energy.

“Setting up solar panels to generate up to 100kW would cost somewhere between 18 and 20 lakh. The school can recover that amount in a span of three years,” said an industry insider.

The Mar Thoma Education Trust is currently in talks with Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (Anert) and ‘exploring’ different possibilities to establish a cost-effective sustainable source of energy.

“First, we plan to shift all our school’s operation to solar energy and after studying that model, we will apply a similar or maybe an improved model to Marthoma School of Management Studies as well,” said Thomas.

Currently, the trust plans to place solar panels in both the institutions.

“In the first phase, we plan to generate 65kW from the panels placed in our school and 35kW from the panels kept at our management school, which is adjacent to the school,” said Thomas

“The management has our complete support. The initiative is completely in line with what we teach our students. It will prove to be an inspiration for our students when we teach them about sustainability,” said Asha Mathews, principal of Mar Thoma Public School.

“Any initiative, which heeds to the use of alternative source of energy, is encouraged by the management association. Last year, we had introduced a reward scheme for students. If the electricity bill of their house is lesser than that of the previous month, then we would give them small rewards,” said T P M Ibrahim Khan, president of Kerala CBSE school management association.

Source:TOI