Energy sapped

Bhubaneswar, May 30: The capital’s solar dawn has been delayed. It has been nearly one year since Bhubaneswar was included in the 60 proposed “solar city” programme funded by the Union ministry of new and renewable energy, but the programme is yet to be implemented because of delay in drawing up the master plan.

On August 17 last year, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (Iclei) to draw up a master plan. The cost of Rs 2 lakh towards drawing up the master plan has already been provided by the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (Oreda). Cities such as Agra, Aizawal, Chandigarh, Thane and Kohima have already submitted their master plans for implementation of the project.

Official sources in Iclei said a draft of the master plan had already been prepared. “Very soon we will have a meeting of the solar city stake holders committee and discuss its salient features before submitting the final master plan,” said an Iclei official.

For preparation of the master plan, 2,000 households and 2,000 commercial establishments along with the industrial areas under the jurisdiction of BMC were surveyed. The master plan will have a detailed analysis of energy requirement, which includes non-renewable energy sources such as electric energy and fuel.

The solar city project has a provision of grant up to Rs 50 lakh to a city keeping an eye on the requirement. “Once the master plan is prepared it will be sent to the Union ministry of new and renewable energy for approval. Once the plan is approved the project will be implemented,” said deputy director of Oreda B.K. Swain.

The master plan has envisaged use of solar cells, solar cookers and solar street lightning facilities, which will save 10 per cent of total energy consumption from conventional energy sources. Sources said that after approval of the master plan, five pilot projects would be implemented in the city and an additional 46-megawatt of power generated by renewable sources would be added to the consumption of the city.

BMC officials said the main focus would be on solar street lighting. “We have been switching over to various means such as installation of LED lights but solar energy can reduce our monthly bill for street lighting,” said environmental officer Bikram Keshari Routray.

The project aims at saving minimum 10 per cent of total energy consumption from non-renewable energy sources. The project includes renewable energy projects such as solar, wind, biomass, small hydro along with every other possible energy efficiency measures depending upon the need and resource available in the city. The project also aims at involving various stakeholders such as government agencies, educational institutes, and health care facilities to save energy by use of renewable energy sources.