KOLKATA: A team of IIT Kharagpur experts headed by the renewable energy scientist S P Gon Chaudhuri started work to set up the country’s largest off-grid 170 kW capacity solar and wind power plant along with a charging unit for totos at the remote Ghoramara island in Sundarbans. Funded by the ministry of science and technology, the work is expected to be completed before Durga Puja this year. The cost of the project is Rs 4.5 crore.
The renewable energy plant will illuminate the entire island, including the houses of villagers, and help them operate solar boats, pumps and totos. The local panchayat authorities have given the land for the construction of the solar and wind power plant. Gon Chaudhuri, who heads the team of IIT Kharagpur professors implementing the project, stated that currently, over 5,000 people from 1,100 families live without electricity in the island.
