Vijayawada: The Krishna district administration has just wrapped up work on a pilot project to make some schools fully solar-enabled, eco-friendly and energy efficient. Officials utilised the funds donated by NRIs for various developmental works for the project.
The Zilla Parishad High School at Penamaluru now has 8 KW solar panels installed while the ZP high school at Neppalli village in Kankipadu mandal has 3 KW panels. The aim is not only to save money on electricity bills but also generate income for the schools by transferring the excess power generated to the state.
The officials are taking the help of the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of AP to implement their plan. If it is a success, the project will be gradually extended to all the schools in the district.
As of now, around 10 private schools, the two government schools and 12 colleges in the district are equipped with solar energy. The solar panels have been mounted on the school rooftop and the officials plan to instal the solar inverter in all ZP schools in Krishna district and the 30 municipal schools in Vijayawada city.
NREDCAP district manager K. Srinivasa Rao said, “From each unit, around 5-8 KW power can be generated. Based on the school strength and infrastructure available, each school would have one or two units.”
He said that for this project, the district administration plans to rope in NRIs for setting up the solar units and also few social groups to donate the solar units.
ZP high school, Penamalur, head Jasthi Asha Latha said, “After installation of the solar power generator, we are saving about Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 per month on our power bills. We are also getting an average income of Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 by transferring the generated power to the grid. We have cleared our pending power bills.”
Ms Asha Latha said that NRIs and old student Kilaru Siva Kumar contributed for the solar system. Penamaluru, ZP High School teacher K. Siva Kumar said that the 8KW solar inverter costs Rs 5,68,000 but since it is subsidised, it cost the school Rs 2,40,000.
