Friday, March 2, 2012

TN to light up 3L houses with solar power, targets 1,000MW


CHENNAI: In a move expected to inject some life into the state solar policy, the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (Teda ) has identified 2,000 government buildings where 1KW solar photovoltaic panels can be set up on the rooftops to generate energy.
The proposal is yet to be sanctioned by the state government. Among the shortlisted government offices, 1,000 are in Chennai. With this and the proposed solar powered houses and streetlights, Teda expects 1,000MW of solar power to be availableby year-end.
The state government plans to light up three lakh houses and one lakh street lamps with solar power. Of this, Teda aims to set up 60,000 houses and 20,000 streetlights this year. "We have proposed to the government to encourage residents across the state to install solar panels atop their houses, especially in multi storied buildings," said Teda general manager Srinivas Shankar.
The agency also plans to encourage residents to install solar water heaters like the ones in public health centres. Bangalore is among the cities with a large number of its residential buildings using solar water heaters.
Officials said the solar power policy,which has been in cold storage for a long time, is expected in a few months though the state government had announced in May 2010 that it would be released by January 2012.The delay has made industries looking at the state to wait and watch. "Once the policy is announced, we will enter the state in a big way," said officials from L&T and Zynergy. They werespeaking at a press conference to announce Renergy 2012, a renewable energy international conference and expo to be held at Chennai trade centre on March 12 and 13.
Centre for Wind Energy Technology executive director S Gomathinayagam said the Centre has funded the Scottish Development Agency to conduct a feasibility study on offshore wind energy generation in thecountry.
In its draft report, the agency has identified the Gulf of Kutch and Dhanushkodi as probable locations for installing offshore windmills. Gomathinayagam, who will be heading the technical committee on offshore wind energy generation, said there will be a meeting on March 2 to discuss the reportfrom the agency.

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