JNTU goes solar to light up campus

​Sangareddy: The 150-acre sprawling campus of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Sultanpur in Medak district, established in 2012, is not just using smart classroom engineering technology.

Through its 16,000 solar panels established over a 25-acre area in its campus by the Telangana government, it also generates 18-20 MW power per day, linked to the nearby sub-station at Annasagar from where it gets distributed through the power grid.

It is meeting a vital requirement thus, encouraging utilisation of renewable energy for power generation and by establishing institutional solar energy plants. The government spent Rs. 28 crore to set up the power generation unit, with the lifetime of the solar panels expected to be around 25 years.

As Professor Manzoor Hussain, Principal, JNTU, Hyderabad says:” There is an income of Rs five crore to the government per annum. In five years, the entire investment could be recovered. Before the plant was setup, the university used to pay bills worth Rs 30 lakh per month, which has now come down to Rs 4 lakh because of utilising the solar generated power.”

The university has been built using smart-classroom engineering technology, which means the classrooms have full ventilation, with light entering the classrooms from three directions. This means, there is no need to use electricity in the classrooms between 8 am and 5 pm.