Ajmer college ready to get power from own solar plant
ECO-FRIENDLY Plant will produce 30,000 units annually, 17,000 units will be used by college and rest will be sold
JAIPUR: Sri Govind Singh Gurjar Government College in Ajmer has set up a solar power plant on its campus under the National Higher Education Mission (NHEM) scheme, becoming the first educational institute in the state to have such facility.
The solar plant, which will be functional in a day or two, was built at a cost of `17.75 lakh.
It will produce 100 units (kWH) everyday on an average. The college received `12.95 lakh for the project under the NHEM scheme, while the state government provided `4.80 lakh.
Yearly, the plant will produce 30,000 units out of which 17,000 units will be used by the college and the remaining will be sold to the Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (AVVNL) at the existing rate (currently `6.75 per unit).
By becoming self-sufficient in energy, the college will earn `1 lakh every year by selling the surplus to AVVNL besides saving `1.5 lakh it used to pay as electricity bill every year.
Considering the proportional increase in the electricity rates, the college hopes to recover the installation cost in five-six years.
The 20 kW solar plant has 68 panels and is set up in an area of 100 square metres.
The college is spread over 50 acres and has 1,165 students on its rolls. Set up on the college rooftop, the plant has a gridconnectivity and uses a net metering to credit the college for the electricity they add to the grid.
At night when the production is zero, or when the production is low during the day because of temperature or weather, the college will draw electricity from the grid and the meter will accordingly keep a record of the usage and supply.
College principal Kalpana Gaur said: “We have a singlephase rural electricity connection and were suffering from power shortage. We had decided that whenever new fund comes solar plant will be the first thing that we will set up. So, when we got the fund from NHEM for development of infrastructure, we got the plant.”
The college submitted a proposal to the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RRECL) in May, the installation started in June and was completed in July.
The RRECL approved company, which installed the plant, gave a warranty of 25 years and will also take care of maintenance for five years.
“The plant does not use a battery and is 100% eco-friendly. While setting it up, we did not have in mind just the requirement of the college but also power-generation for the public,” said Atul Kumar Agarwal, lecturer at the college and the in-charge of the plant installation.
Anoop Khinchi, commissioner, college education, said out of the 200 state colleges, 95 are eligible to set up a solar plant and the installation will happen in phases.
“We recently had a meeting with all the colleges and asked them to submit proposals and start the work on top priority,” he said.
Lal Bahadur Shastri Government PG College in Jaipur has also completed the installation of the plant and will be operational soon.