Now generate solar energy from rooftops
With the swift advancement of technology, the latest invention is creating solar energy from terrace tops. This is one of the best ideas of space utilisation wherein the terrace of residential and commercial buildings can be used to generate solar power. This Initiative is taken by the government of Gujarat which has aimed to launch two pilot projects in the state capital Gandhinagar.
Each of these projects will generate 5 MW of solar power and have aimed to work towards the extension of this service to five other cities in the coming months. This project in Gandhinagar is the first of its kind in the entire country as it also aims to create a mark for the green energy generation at the household-level.
Gujarat has planned to merge Vadodara, Mehsana, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Surat together to take up the solar rooftop power project with 30MW capacity. These projects are still in the process of functioning and will be taken up by the Gujarat Power Corporation (GPCL).
The concept of Micro generation in Gujarat:
The Gujarat Power Corporation (GPCL) has approached various bidders who can purchase the request for proposal (RFP) documents for these five solar roof-top projects. However, the two pilot projects are being developed under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model in a venture with Azure Sun Energy. Since the initiation of PPP projects, the government had seen a great progress which in turn led the government to set up the roof-top solar project in the other five cities.
How does this project work?
The scheme allows the solar rooftop project developer t o build, finance, own, operate and maintain the solar photovoltaic system units. These will be further connected to the state electricity grid. To create the solar energy on rooftops, the project developers will rent the rooftops of the housing societies along with commercial establishments to launch their solar units. The generated power will then be sold to the state electricity distribution company.
For setting up this project in Gandhinagar, a sum of Rs. 3 per unit for the solar power generated will be paid as green incentive and this has further, moved forward to the terraces of private homes, commercial buildings and government property.
Talking about the mechanics of this project, the photovoltaic modules which consists of an array of the solar cells or the solar panels in the system converts the sunlight directly into the DC power. This is further converted into AC power through an inverter. The project in Gandhinagar uses a special type of inverter which is known as the grid-interactive inverter. However, there is no provision yet to have the power flow into the individual homes and the electrical grid simultaneously. Also for the project in Gandhinagar, the GPCL has imposed a certain restrictions related to the age and the size of the buildings hosting solar power.
For the Gandhinagar pilot project, GPCL had imposed certain restrictions on the age or size of buildings that will host the solar panels. Likewise, buildings applying for the projects should not be aged more than 8-10 years old and the minimum super built up area required is 1,500-2,000 square feet. It is also said that the properties will not be located in a commercial locality of a city or nearby a business district and instead will be situated on an arterial road not less than 40 feet width. Both the project developer and the property owner can take care of the maintenance.
Benefits of the rooftop solar power generation:
A landlord renting out his rooftop for solar power generation will make quite a handsome amount. The scheme lets the owner to earn a green incentive calculated on a per-unit basis of power of the generated solar power which automatically translates the power into direct source which can be paid on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
