Chandigarh July08
Chandigarh: The UT administration is working on a plan to generate up to 25 mega watts of solar energy in the city and a detailed report is likely to be chalked out soon. A senior UT official said the idea was to generate solar energy by putting up panels in various gardens of the city and then uploading the power thus produced to the main grid. “The details are being worked out. Besides, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is also preparing a report to make Chandigarh a solar city. The project can then be implemented under the public-private partnership programme,” he said. “The electricity consumption in Chandigarh has increased manifold and once the system is put in place, solar-based electricity can be increased gradually. Since, there is already a well-knit set-up of wires across the city, there is no need to have a parallel network for solar energy and it can be added to the main grid,” he added. Since Chandigarh does not have its own power-generating unit of any kind, it has to rely solely on the power generation capacity of the neighbouring states for its electricity demands. In case of any eventuality in these stations, Chandigarh is plunged into darkness. In view of this, the UT administration has decided to set up grid interactive solar photovoltaic power plant of 25 KW capacity, using solar energy. Under the solar photovoltaic energy programme, streetlights, indoor lights or portable lighting systems called solar lanterns have been installed in various parts of the city as a renewable and pollution-free alternative.