Vijayawada will be one among the 60 cities in the country that would be called solar cities, in the next five years. The project, for which the Centre has allocated over Rs 30 crore with each city getting Rs 50 lakh each, is part of the 11th Plan.
The plan, designed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), is aimed at meeting 10 per cent of the energy demand through solar power.
Under this, street lights, energy used for water pumping and supply and maintenance of office lighting would be met through solar energy. This is expected to bring down the civic bodies expenditure by 10 per cent. Besides, the ministry had directed these cities to promote the use of non-conventional energy by private buildings, including apartments where solar energy can be adopted for common lighting and water supply.
In the first phase Vijayawada, Agra, Muradabad, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Thane, Indore, Imphal, Kohima, Kalyan-Dombiwali, Dehradun, and Coimbatore would be covered. These cities have been asked to come up with the project implementation reports.
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) had already assigned the task of preparing a detailed project report (DPR) to Raipur-based SR Consultant (P) Ltd.
SR Consultant director Ritu S Jain said they were preparing the master plan for the city and it would be ready in the next six months. The master plan would include the existing apartments, commercial complexes, industries, individual houses, besides corporate establishments and the civic body buildings. “The preparation of the master plan is estimated to cost Rs 10 crore,” Jain said.
According to municipal commissioner G Ravi Babu, as much as 900,000 units of power is used a day in the city. Of the Rs 50 lakh, the VMC would spend Rs 10 lakh each on DPR, establishing a solar energy cell and on implementation of the project. The remaining Rs 20 lakh would be spent on creating awareness among the people on the use of the solar energy over the next five years.
The Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (Nedcap), which would act as a nodal agency, would help both the VMC and SR Consultants in implementing the project. Nedcap general manager SY Reddy said they were studying all aspects of the project to provide every non-conventional energy source, besides the solar energy. He said they would provide 30-50 per cent discount on the equipment for individuals and institutions.
