People might blame the state government for operating its offices for not much productive work, but the critics will fall silent now.
Come June 2013, Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, better known as the old secretariat, will produce 1.3 MW of electricity from the solar panels that will be installed on its rooftop by end of this month. The power generated will be sent to the grid from where it will be distributed to sub-stations, as the case normally is. Also, Rs21,000 will be earned by the state government each day, for renting out the rooftop for the project.
“The installation of the solar panels has been carried out under rooftop solar power generation project,” said DJ Pandian, principal secretary of state energy & petrochemical department.
“About 0.40 MW power is already being produced (from the rooftop), which will increase to 1.3 MW once the project operates at full capacity by June. The solar panels will be ready by end of this month,” he added.
The project is being executed by Azure Power. As per the rooftop solar power generation project, the company is supposed to pay Rs3 per unit produced to the owner of the premises.
“About 7,000 units of electricity will be generated everyday from the solar panels. The state government will get Rs3 for every unit of electricity generated,” said Pandian. Azure Power has invested Rs15 crore for the project.
Apart from the old secretariat, the lokayukta’s office and other educational institutes and government offices will be covered under the rooftop solar power generation programme, said sources in the state government. Interestingly, no major drilling work has been done on the roofs for installation of the panels.
