The National Highway wing of the Public Works Department (PWD) has come up with an innovative idea to generate solar power worth ₹27 lakh a year by installing solar panels on the proposed Kunjali Marakkar bridge at Iringal at Vadakara. A detailed project report (DPR) has already been submitted to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for implementing the idea along with the construction of the bridge.
Officials attached to the National Highway Bypass Sub Division (Kozhikode) of the PWD claim that it will be the first such bridge project in India which will harness solar energy through a grid of solar cells to be fixed with the support of the Kerala State Electricity Board. The expected daily production on completion of the proposed grid-connected project will be 142 kW, they add.
The east-west direction of the bridge will be used to fix solar panels for the generation of maximum power. About 1,400 square metre area will be covered using solar panels to achieve the daily production target.
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The total length of the new bridge, which will connect Iringal with Vadakara sandbanks as part of the ongoing Kozhikode coastal highway project, is 564 metre.
“The solar panels will be fixed without affecting the architectural beauty of the bridge. Sufficient space will be provided under the bridge to fit the switch circuit and other controlling devices,” says PWD (NH) Assistant Executive Engineer P.B. Baiju.
He also adds that the DPR submitted for the project has already been reviewed by the KIIFB team and measures are under way to acquire land for project execution.
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Apart from the solar power generation plan, the bridge will have some creative design elements that reflect the region’s historical association with Zamorin’s naval chief Kunjali Marakkar.
The approved design which was prepared by the Design Research Investigation and Quality Control Board under the PWD has incorporated sword as the main theme.