The National Institute of Engineering (NIE) has taken a step forward to go green by augmenting its solar power generation capacity.
It has installed a 10 kW solar power plant to meet the requirements of its library and the surplus power generated would be fed to the grid. NIE Principal G.L. Shekar said this was part of the NIE’s many initiative of making the campus green and taking measures to be environmental-friendly.
This is the second solar power plant of the institute, and the first is a 30-kW power plant at the NIE Boys’ Hostel. “With the latest addition, the total capacity installed at NIE has gone up to 40 kW”, he added.
S. Shamsundar, Head, Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies (CREST), said that NIE will generate 60,000 units of power annually and was meeting more than 10 per cent of its annual power requirements through solar energy and was compliant with the solar city guidelines of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The new solar power plant was inaugurated on Monday by Dinesh Kumar, Project Engineer, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd. (KREDL), Mysuru.
He said India had abundant solar energy and was capable of producing 5,000 trillion kilowatts of clean energy as there are around 300 sunny days in a year in the country. He said there was reasonably good solar radiation in Karnataka to make solar power projects commercially viable in addition to offering wide scope for off-grid solar applications.
Many States in India, including Karnataka, have already recognised and identified solar energy potential and others have lined up to meet their growing energy needs with clean and ever-lasting solar energy, said Mr. Dinesh Kumar.
The cumulative installed capacity of power in India as on February was nearly 2,57,780 MW of which the installed capacity of renewable energy was 34,351 MW. In Karnataka, installed capacity of power generation is 14,802 MW of which renewal energy comprises 4,749 MW. This includes wind generated power to the tune of 2,623 MW, small hydro (785 MW), biomass (113 MW), and cogeneration (114 MW) while solar energy contributes 84 MW, said Mr. Dinesh Kumar.
