Solar power to give 150 city schools Rs 17 crore per year
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has set up rooftop solar projects atop 150 school buildings under a Central government scheme, creating a revenue stream and savings potential aggregating Rs 433 crore for the institutions struggling with high maintenance costs amid disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The projects with a total capacity of a little over 21 MW (megawatt) will reduce the annual power bill of schools by Rs 8.8 crore and allow them to earn additional Rs 8.5 crore from sale of surplus electricity to the discoms. Together, the savings and the earnings will be more than Rs 433 crore over the 25-year life cycle of the solar projects, data show.
Let’s take the government school in West Vinod Nagar to get an idea about the benefit to individual schools. The school, located in deputy chief minister Manish Sisodiya’s constituency, houses the country’s largest rooftop solar project with a capacity of 195 kWp (kilowatt peak) built by Delhi-based Oakridge Energy. The project will save the school Rs 8 lakh in power bill and yield earnings of Rs 7.7 lakh annually.
