In a major push to generate solar power based electricity in the city, the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (Crest) will install rooftop solar power stations at seven locations in the city with aggregate capacity of 2250 kWp at Rs 13 crore.
With a total aggregate capacity of 1350 kWp, grid-connected rooftop SPV power plants with high power evacuation will be installed on the three Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) of the municipal corporation. Each of these will have a capacity of 450 kWp. This will cost around Rs 7 crore. The work is expected to be completed in four months.
Five small power plants of 80 kWp each will be installed at flats of Armed Police Complex, Dhanas. The aggregate capacity of these plants will be 400 kWp, and will be installed at Rs 2 crore. The work is expected to be completed in four months.
Rooftop of the parking of the inter-state bus terminal, Sector 43, will also have a rooftop solar power plant. It will consist of one new plant on the two-wheeler parking lot having a capacity of 300 kWp.
Another one will be installed at parking area at Garden of Conifers, Sector 52, with a capacity of 200 kWp. The project will cost around Rs 2.62 crore, and is expected to be completed within six months after the work is allotted.
Both the main buildings of Sector 43 bus stand and Sector 17 bus stand rooftops already have solar power plants, which were installed in 2016. The ISB-17 plant has a capacity of 300 kWp, while the ISBT-43 has of 200 kWp.
The Crest will also be installing another, a smaller capacity, rooftop solar plant at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Sector 26.
The CREST has speeded up augmenting the installed capacity of the solar power plants in the city with an aim to meet the target of 75 MWp by August 15, 2023. The target will be achieved in a phase-wise manner – 57 MWp by December 31, 67 MWp by March 31, 2023, and 75 MWp by August 15.
Currently, power plants with a total capacity of 51 MWP are being installed.
Recently, it also initiated the setting up of a 2 MWp canal-top solar power plant on N-Choe near Garden of Conifers in Sector 52. It will cost around Rs 11 crore. Another canal-top power plant is to come up on Patiala ki Rao. A 2 MWp solar power plant will also come up at the Sector 39 waterworks. A 500-kWp floating solar plant has already been installed at the Dhanas lake. The Crest has also proposed changes in the building bylaws for making it mandatory to install rooftop solar power plants in residential houses of more than 250 sq yard area. Currently, it is mandatory for above-500 sq yard residential plots.
