Terraces of buildings in the expansive Prakasam District Courts Complex used to be dumping grounds - mostly with unwanted furniture strewn all over and an eyesore. Now, every inch of rooftop space in all the four buildings is filled with photovoltaic systems to produce clean solar energy.
Having gone the solar energy way, “the district courts complex saves about ₹ 50,000 on every month on power bills, with the installation of solar panels at a cost of ₹ 26.40 lakh to generate 55 KWp (kilowattpeak),” according to Principal District Judge P.V. Jyotirmayi.
She also unveiled her vision to make the court complex a green campus by extensively planting tree saplings and ensuring their survival by arranging water in collaboration with the civic authorities to provide the right ambience for the litigant public who come to seek justice. “The trial run conducted in the last two months showed that a maximum of 280 units can be generated each day. Savings is up to to ₹ 1,800 per day on a sunny day and ₹ 800 on a cloudy day,” court sources said. Ms. Justice K.Vijayalakshmi, High Court judge and administrative judge of Prakasam district patted the district judge for the environment-friendly initiative.
Means of income
The power generated at the District Courts Complex is transmitted to the distribution company through a ‘Net meter’. The solar power generated each month and power consumed gets reflected in the monthly bill. “If the power generated is more than the power consumed then the consumer gets paid at the rate of about ₹ 3.25 per unit,” said V. Poornachandra Rao of Novus Green Energy Systems which has bagged the contract for setting rooftop solar panels in nine other district courts.
Individuals can go for 5kWp unit to meet their household energy needs and get paid for surplus power transmitted to the APDISCOM once every six months.
Subsidy hike likely
Further, the Government is mulling to hike the subsidy on photovolatic systems from the present 30% to 40%, official sources said.
