If all goes as planned then Delhi will soon lead the 55 cities being developed as “solar cities” under the Centre’s Smart City initiative. Central Delhi, which has been identified for the project, is likely to harness as much as 1.8 megawatt (MW) of solar energy by March next year.
To implement the Solar City project in posh Central Delhi, the area’s civic body-cum-discom New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is working on a detailed proposal to increase the region’s proposed solar power generation by an additional 5 MW. For the first phase, the civic agency has already identified around 28 government buildings where solar power systems shall be installed.
Speaking to The Hindu , NDMC chairperson Naresh Kumar said, “A private contractor has already been appointed. Phase-I of the project shall be completed by March 2016. The second phase will have installations having a total capacity of 2.2 MW.” The contractor shall build, operate and maintain the systems, he added.
Mr Kumar also said that the project would be extended beyond the initial plan of generating 4 MW of electricity through solar energy.
“We will also set up a ground-based solar plant for which we are looking for land. This plant is first going to be of 5 MW and will later be extended to about 20 MW,” he said. For this, the NDMC is looking for at least 5 acres of land outside its area. In fact, the council is already in talks with the Delhi Development Authority for the same.
As of now, the NDMC generates 110 kW of solar power through two systems set up in its schools. While one is a 60-kW plant at N.P. Bengali Girls’ School, Gole Market, the other is a 50-kW solar plant at Navyug Senior Secondary School, Mandir Marg.
In 2014, the NDMC had signed an MOU with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for development of solar rooftop on all its buildings.
The NDMC already generates 110 kW of solar power through two systems set up in its schools. While one is a 60-kW plant at N.P. Bengali Girls’ School, Gole Market, the other is a 50-kW solar plant at Navyug Senior Secondary School, Mandir Marg
