State Water Transport Department seeks nod for 10 more solar boats

Kochi: Following success of the country’s first solar ferry deployed in Vaikom- Tavanakadavu section of Alappuzha district, the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) has submitted a Detailed Project Report to the Centre seeking financial assistance to roll out 10 more such passenger boats. “The report mainly lists out the benefits achieved during the successful operation of the first solar ferry across a 150-day period. Besides cutting pollution drastically, daily cost of operation was as low as Rs 163 as against average daily fuel expense of Rs 6500 and maintenance cost of Rs 500 for a fuel operated boat. The solar boat also resulted in saving 14, 200 litres of diesel and help in saving 38 tonnes of carbon-dioxide emission,” said Shaji V Nair, SWTD Director.

The DPR was submitted to the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy under its scheme for extending funds to encourage renewable sources of energy. The country’s first solar ferry boat ‘Aditya’ on June 12 last successfully completed 150 days of voyage in the Vaikom-Tavanakadavu section. “During the rainy days (when very limited energy from sun) too, we could conduct the normal service of 22 trips with grid charging being done during break. The boat completed 150 days of voyage as on June 12 (inaugurated on January 12), conducting a total of 3058 trips with 2.3 lakh passengers travelling in it,” said Traffic Superintendent (Ernakulam region) M Sujith.

The plan of the SWTD is to replace the existing fleet with solar ferries in the long run.  Already it has decided to give the option to run on solar power too in the 14 catamaran boats currently under construction at various yards. The state planning board also has given in principal approval for funding of solar boats in the coming years.