Your rooftop can earn!

ॐ भास्कराय  विद्महे 

 महादुत्याथिकराया  धीमहि

 तनमो  आदित्य  प्रचोदयात

“Om Bhaskaraya Vidmahe Mahadyudikaraaya Dhimahi Tanno Aditya Prachodayaat”

Meaning: I learn about the one who is the source of light and meditate on one who is so radiant!  Let Lord Surya illuminate my intellect.

Sun is the source of all energies for our mother earth since billions of years! The ability to harness sun's energy for generating heat and electricity is known as solar power. Solar power is environment friendly besides being renewable in nature.

With all traditional sources of energy like petrol and coal almost getting exhausted, the only ray of hope for future is the solar power.

Solar power plant for your home!

Let us assume that your house is built on a 30'X50' site and is having a roof-top space of about 1000 Sft and the power sanctioned is about 5 kW. Let us examine a project implemented by Solar power company.

A solar power company implemented an integrated state-of-the-art rooftop solar systems for 32 row houses / villas constructed by a leading developer in Bengaluru.

They have designed and commissioned 5.25 kW solar power plants for each of these row houses. 

The solar system had to be installed on RCC roofs and the client specifically requested the company not to drill any holes on the roof to prevent the possibility of leakages during the later course of time.

Power generation in each of the houses is about 14,400 units per year which works out to about 1200 units per month.

An average house having 4-5 inmates needs about 600 units of power per month, assuming that they have solar water heater and they have 2-3 ACs in their home.  This becomes cost-free and therefore the cost savings on electricity bill may be about Rs.3,000 pm! One may check his/her monthly bill and assess the cost.

Remaining 600 units of power will be released from the system to Electricity board, which may purchase power from you at a slightly lower cost.  Let us assume that electricity board will reimburse you about Rs.2000 pm.  Thus your solar power plant on your rooftop can generate you about Rs.5000 pm!

But what about the cost of installation of the solar power plant of 5.25 kW capacity? As per enquiry I have made it may be about Rs.4-5 lakh. This may come down for community projects.

Each residential unit is preventing emission of 10 tons of Carbon-di-Oxide to atmosphere every year (assuming that entire power comes from a thermal plant).

Power plants will be operative for about 300 days in a year. Life of the unit installed is about 25 years and this entire period is guaranteed by most well known companies. 

All above calculations are based on my enquiry and calculations.  You may please check the actual details from a popular brand like TATA solar power.  It looks an interesting proposition.  Is it not?

Commercial & Industrial projects:

• Tata Power Solar commissioned 820.8 kWp at Cricket Club of India (CCI) stadium,  Mumbai in 100 days.

• The installation of this solar rooftop project has helped to generate over 1.12 million units of electricity per year, which has led to 25% of savings in the power consumption cost. Entire power consumption of the stadium including flood lights is provided by the solar power unit.

• CCI will also be able to curb the emission of over 840 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Customized solutions for individual houses are also possible.  Besides solar power plants have also caught the attention of big industries and the State governments. Governments are expected come out soon with subsidies for installation of solar power plants.  Banks are ready to extend loans for this purpose.  Let's hope that our people will realize the benefits of solar power plants and go for it in a big way resulting in cheaper and environmentally friendly power system.

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