University of Hyderabad in pursuit of solar power

VC inaugurates first solar power plant at IGM Library The University of Hyderabad is harnessing Solar Power. This project has been initiated and the first plant has been implemented in a record time of 30 days. Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ramakrishna Ramaswamy inaugurated the 100KW roof-top Solar Power Plant at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Library on Sunday. The University consumes 13 lakh units of electricity per month for its academic buildings, hostels and other residential areas, and incurs an expenditure of more than one crore rupees towards its monthly electricity bills. Further, the University runs many generators and UPS systems as back up for power supply to overcome the frequent power cuts in the state of art laboratories and academic buildings. The Vice-Chancellor has taken a positive step with a foresight and sanctioned the installation of first solar power plant on the campus to meet the total power needs of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Library, one of the largest libraries in the country. The University Library requires power round the clock as most of the students use the Air-conditioned 'Reading Halls' till late in the night, and consumes about 600 units of power per day, which costs Rs 1 lakh per month. The solar power plant installed on the roof of the Library building with 440 solar panels can generate 100 KW power by PEC, a public sector company with a cost of Rs 2 crores, 30% of which will be paid by the Govt. of India as a subsidy. This solar plant provides uninterrupted and stable power of 500 units per day and the whole system lasts for a minimum period of 25 years. After Solar power plant installation, the entire building becomes grid independent.