Salar Jung Museum finally goes solar

The Salar Jung Museum is going to be the first museum in the country to go for non-conventional energy. Conceived way back in 2012, the museum authorities have finally managed to set up a 500 KW solar plant on its roof- top set up at a cost of Rs 2.20 crore after 30 per cent subsidy from the Ministry of Non Renewable Energy.

Trial runs have started and 2200 KWh units are generated per day taking care of a major part of the energy needs of the museum. Divided into three blocks; central, eastern and western, the major energy needs are in the central block. A Nagender Reddy, director, Salar Jung Museum says, “Within a month’s time the whole solar plant would be fully functional.

As of now trial runs are on. Once it is fully functional we expect the power bills to drop by Rs 7-8 lakh.”The monthly power bills of Salar Jung Museum is about Rs 12-13 lakh. The museum’s power consumption is close to 4,900 units per day and the 500 KW solar plant could generate up to 2600 units a day. K Ravi Kumar, assistant executive engineer, Salar Jung Museum says, “There is still open space on the roof and more panels could be accommodated at a later stage.”

The museum shells out Rs 1.5 crore annually towards power charges. The authorities have been planning to bring down the expenditure and switched to LED lighting system a few years ago. A senior official of Telangana Renewable Energy Development Corporation says that the Return on Investment (ROI) could be achieved in three to four years.

On an average 3-4 thousand people from across the country and abroad visit the museum daily and the number goes up to 10,000 a day during summer months. The solar plant will generate about 75,000 KWh that would meet 50 per cent of the museum power requirement. Novus Green Energy Systems Pvt Ltd has set up the plant at the museum through Telangana Renewable Energy Development Corporation.

By:T P Venu