Telangana: Solar power units to be setup in government schools

According to REDCO officials, the power generated through solar units will be utilized for the needs of the schools besides storing it in battery inverters.

Karimnagar: The Telangana government has decided to install solar power units in all government schools to reduce power charges burden.

Having 200 students strength, the schools, which are being developed under Mana Voru Mana Badi programme, will get solar units in the first phase. A 2 kilowatt (kw) capacity solar unit will be established in each school by spending more than Rs 1 lakh.

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Both Renewable Energy Development Corporation (REDCO) and the Education Department are monitoring the process. REDCO officials are conducting a survey to study various aspects such as power required for schools, facilities to set up solar units and others.

According to REDCO officials, the power generated through solar units will be utilized for the needs of the schools besides storing it in battery inverters. The excess power will be supplied to DISCOM by interlinking the units to the grid by establishing a net metering system.

In the first phase, a total of 103 schools have been selected for the scheme in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. They are Karimnagar-27, Jagtial-41, Peddapalli-17 and Rajanna-Sircilla-18 schools.

Officials are going to launch solar units in six schools on a pilot basis by the end of this month. They are Zilla Parishad High School, Paidimadugu, Korutla mandal of Jagtial district, ZPHS Jangapalli, Ganneruvaram mandal of Karimnagar, ZPHS Dongathurthi of Dharmaram mandal and Manthani of Peddapalli and ZPHS boys and girls of Sircilla town of Rajanna-Sircilla district.

Speaking to Telangana Today, REDCO District Manager V Paramachary said that there were solar units in Sultanabad and Ramagundam ZPHS schools. While the unit was established in Sultanabad schools under the central government’s Rurban mission, NTPC donated a unit to Ramagundam school under its CSR programme.

However, the state government has decided to install solar units in government schools above the strength of 200 students. Initially, the schools which are being taken up under Mana Voru Mana Badi, would get units. Informing that they are going to start solar units in six schools on pilot basis by the end of this month, he expressed hope that installation of units in all selected 103 schools would be completed in the coming one to two months.