Y S Rana , Chandigarh: The day is not far off when homes and business houses in Chandigarh will become owners and sellers of solar energy. One will be at liberty to ‘deposit’ in a bank and ‘withdraw’ as and when one
wants. This seemingly far-fetched scenario is being brought within the
realm of reality by the UT Administration which plans to set up an
energy bank.
Soon banking energy will be possible that will facilitate house-owners and commercial houses to ‘deposit’ extra solar energy generated in the grid and withdraw when needed, Santosh Kumar, Director, Environment and Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh, told
Daily Post on Friday. Keen on powering the future of Chandigarh,
policy makers have begun to figure out how to regulate the bank for
solar energy.
Kumar said, “The economics of the sector has improved
in the city and we may be on the threshold of grid parity era. There
would be rapid development in energy banking over the next five years.
It will play a significant role in narrowing down the gap between
demand and supply of power. More and more house owners and institutes
would be encouraged to adopt solar energy system on the rooftops to
power the future of Chandigarh with solar energy”, he added.
Dwelling on the project, he said that grids would
work like a bank. House owner who has extra solar energy would be able
to ‘deposit’ it and ‘withdraw’ when needed. The Chandigarh
Administration has pushed through an attractive plan with subsidy of
25 per cent over and above 30 per cent subsidy offered by the
Government of India, making it 55 per cent for installation of solar
panels.
On an experimental basis, 230 private houses would be
covered under the plan. All services would be provided under one roof
to those who opt for solar energy. House owners can set up solar
panels of one kw to 10kws on roof tops. One kw solar system would cost
the house owner Rs 1.5 lakh. Taking into account the subsidy amount
and those having own inverter, the cost would come down to Rs 40,000
to Rs 50,000. It could provide power to light up 10 CFL bulbs, to run
a television, a fridge and five fans, he added.
The administration was acquiring a tool by which electro
feed can be done to facilitate energy storage sent from solar system
to the inverter or a battery. Solar, wind and hydro power are all
subject to vagaries of nature and clouds or low water levels render
them mute. So it is important to have a mechanism of banking energy
that can power homes to humming along in peace.
At present, Chandigarh is generating 1860 Kwh solar energy from
different SPV power plants installed by the Chandigarh Renewal Energy
Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST).
