SPMVV marching towards green campus

• Varsity to set up third rooftop solar power plant
• With the installation of third plant, SPMVV to save Rs 15 lakhs per annum

Tirupati: Realising the importance of renewable energy sources, various institutions have been moving towards establishing their own power generation units in which solar power occupies an important role which can be easily installed on rooftops.

Various incentives being offered by New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) and other agencies to install solar plants on rooftops also being utilised in their bid towards cutting their dependence on grid to some extent and saving on their power bills.

Sri Padmavathi Mahila Visvavidyalayam (SPMVV) already known for its eco-friendly initiatives, was also moving towards solar power to reduce its grid dependence.

They have already installed two solar plants on the rooftop of two buildings which were having the capacity of 30 kW and 90 kW and planning for more in future.

They are generating 540 units of power per day and 16,200 kilowatts per month. With the help of NREDCAP, the SPMVV had first installed a 30 kwh plant on the administrative building with Rs 30 lakh.

For this, NREDCAP has given them a subsidy of Rs 9 lakh and the payback period for the remaining amount was 66 months. The second plant was installed on humanities block at a cost of Rs 62.1 lakh in which they got the subsidy of Rs 12.42 lakh. It has an installed capacity of 405 kwh.

With these two plants, they were able to save the power bills to the tune of Rs 1.25 lakh per month and Rs 15 lakh per annum. The university consumes about 56,000 units of power per month and spending around Rs 15 lakh towards electricity bills.

Had the solar plants were not there, their power bills would have been even more. Sri Venkateswara University and Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University have also installed much bigger plants and could be able to reduce their exchequers significantly.

SPMVV was also planning to install more plants in its bid towards making it a green campus. The proposals for another 120 kv solar rooftop plant were sanctioned which will be installed on the engineering college building soon said the Deputy Executive Engineer of SPMVV MC Krishna Reddy.

The works for construction of some other buildings and hostels will also begin soon. Once these constructions are completed, more solar plants can be installed which can reduce the corban footprint in the campus considerably.

Varsity officials want to divert surplus solar power generated in the campus during holidays to APSPDCL as the plants were connected to the grid through net metering system.