A solar-generated lamp (left) on the Scottish Church campus. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Scottish Church College, once at the forefront of academic excellence, is shining bright for a different reason these days (or rather nights).

The campus that counts the likes of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Mrinal Sen among its alumni, has taken the lead in installing solar-generated lamp posts on campus to save energy and cut costs.

“We have installed 10 such lamp posts on two of our campuses at 1 & 3 Urquhart Square (popularly known as Hedua) with help from West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA). Besides saving energy, it will provide respite from power cuts and bring down our monthly electricity bill,” says J. Abraham, the principal of Scottish Church College.

Solar panels inclined at 30-35 degrees, with a sheet of toughened glass shielding them from excessive heat and hailstorm, have been installed. Sun rays strike the panels and the energy absorbed through an electronic circuit lights up the 18-watt “coal cathode” compact fluorescent lamps. The battery absorbs the energy during the day and the lights burn bright after sundown.

“The lamps are sun-sensitive and light up automatically at dusk and switch off at dawn, when charging starts,” explains S.P. Gon Chaudhuri, the managing director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation, a five-month-old agency set up by the state to execute renewable energy projects.

But what happens during the monsoon when the sun rarely comes out? “The charging of the solar panels varies in the summer, winter and monsoon months, depending on the solar radiation. But the captured energy gets stored and powers the lamp on cloudy days,” says Sushobhan Bhattacharya, the director of WBREDA. “Even if there is cloud cover for a few days on the trot, the lights will burn, though the intensity or the duration would be less,” he adds.

The installation of each lamp post this April came with a price tag of Rs 26,000, of which Rs 12,000 was borne by the central government, with the rest being shared by WBREDA and the college. Scottish Church paid Rs 6,000 for each lamp post. The posts required no digging for laying of cables and maintenance means distilled water for the batteries every six months.

“We have to pay about Rs 60,000 to the CESC per month and once the full-fledged session starts we are expecting a dip in the electricity bill by at least 30 per cent,” feels principal Abraham, who plans to install more such lamp posts in the hostels.

The environmental benefit is obvious. “One electric lamp post emits 4 kg carbon dioxide every night; the solar lamps do not have any such emissions,” says Chaudhuri of Green Energy Development.