It may be green but the 42-year-old M. Chinnaswamy Stadium may soon go clean as well. Karnataka State Cricket Association is exploring the possibility of sourcing the stadium’s massive power requirement through solar energy.
The idea is to replicate the success of the Mage Solar Stadion (sic.) in the city of Freiburg in Germany where solar panels placed on the awning of the stadium generate 2,50,000 kWh of energy per year.
Confirming the plans to transform the Chinnaswamy stadium into a similar facility, KSCA president Anil Kumble told The Hindu on Wednesday that proposal to install solar panels on the roof of the stadium is being examined. At present, the cost of lighting up the stadium for four hours costs around Rs. 20 lakh.
Presentation
Mr. Kumble said that representatives from the German company GIZ made a presentation before the KSCA’s senior office-bearers little over a month ago about the solar option.
The question that needs to be resolved is how much power will the solar panels generate? Will the panels on the roof of the stadium be enough to electrify the massive floodlights? “We have signed a preliminary agreement with them [GIZ] as per which they are conducting a feasibility study,” Mr. Kumble said, adding, “We will know how much power can be generated only after the feasibility study is completed.”
Idea
The idea for the project came from Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Kaushik Mukherjee. “I went to Freiburg in April [2012] and discovered the Mage Solar Stadion. I came back and told Anil about it and he was enthused by the idea. All I had to do after that was connect him with the German company.”
He said that if KSCA decides to go ahead with the plan, it will make the Chinnaswamy stadium the only major sporting facility in the country to be powered by solar energy. Speaking of his visit to Freiburg, Mr. Mukherjee said, “ The city is almost entirely dependent on solar energy. It holds out many lessons for us.”
