SILCHAR, Sept 4 - In a bid to augment its green and sustainable initiative, the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar with its 1MWp grid connected solar rooftop power plant across the rooftops of as many as 12 buildings of the institute has generated 17, 36, 972kWh of electricity till August this year. It has also exported 83,160 units of electricity to Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) so far.
Dr Ranjit G Nair, a faculty in the Department of Physics of the institute and also nodal officer of the 1MWp solar rooftop grid project, in a release issued to the media has said �the installation of the rooftop solar power plants was done in January 2019 and since then there has been an average generation of 86,848kWh solar power. The net metering for the purpose was done in May 2019. The rooftops used for the power plant are spread across the newly built Director Secretariat, Central Library, various academic buildings, hostels and the KV School within the campus of the institute. The power plant was installed under the scheme of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in association with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for government building rooftops under Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) mode. The plant was installed by Suryam International Private Limited under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a unit price of Rs.2.42/kWh for 25 years.�
Further, Dr Nair informed that presently, the institute purchases power from APDCL) with a unit price of Rs.6.75/kWh. �With this green solar initiative, the institute could save an amount of Rs.75,21,000 as electricity charge and the plant could meet 30% of the energy need of the institute as well. Also, institute could reduce 1,459 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission due to the solar power generation during this period,� Dr Nair maintained. The institute has also installed 36 solar water heaters (Evacuated Tube Collector type) of 500 litres per day in the rooftops of various hostels for hot water supply, the release mentioned.
Expressing his reactions on the developments taking place at the institute, Prof Sibaji Bandopadhayay, the director of NIT Silchar told The Assam Tribune, �the activities are a part of our green and sustainability commitment of the institute. Even as the solar power plant was installed a year ago, it was formally inaugurated by the Union Minister of Education Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal �Nishank� at Guwahati on February 14 this year. Besides financial sustenance and contribution towards the environment, the solar power plants are also an excellent scope for the students and researchers at the institute giving them an experimental test base to work on real life situations. Also, in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship development, the faculty and students of the institute are constantly taking up problems that are affecting the society and try to find solutions to the problems.�
