Secunderabad Cantonment Board to set up solar panels on reservoirs

Hyderabad: Unable to meet the power demand under the rapidly growing Secunderabad Cantonment Board jurisdiction, the SCB will now install solar power panels on top of its reservoirs. The SCB lacks large tracts of land in its areas and thus has planned to install panels over its reservoirs tanks, the first one being at Gunrock or Balamrai pump house. Though the distribution of power has increased comparatively over the years in the SCB, it is still unable to meet the demand.

Once functional, the plant would generate 1 MW enough to power some utilities in the, SCB area. SCB CEO Ms Sujatha Gupta said, “The SCB has decided to operate seven pump houses, at Balamrai, Gun Bazaar, AOC, Mahendra Hills, Rudranagar, Bowenpally and Gun Rock using solar power.”

Currently, the SCB gets a power bill of Rs 2 crore as the board is using pump sets to distribute water through its network. In order to save board’s expense, SCB  has chosen pump houses. The work for setting up the solar power panels has been allotted to a Delhi-based firm.

“We can run pump houses with 1 MW solar power for a minimum of six hours a day. We will utilise solar power when the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board supplies water in bulk to our pump houses,” MS Gupta said.

According to the proposal, the solar power mini grid would be set up at a cost of nearly Rs 7 crore. With the installation, SCB could be the first cantonment area to switch over to solar energy. No additional charges will be installed on the SCB residents.

The Secunderabad Cantonment Board authorities are also examining the proposal to power streetlights, bore wells and even submersible water pumps using solar energy. With the first project at Balamrai, there is availability of 1.5 acres of land with no trees or tall buildings in the area.