In a major push to clean energy in the national capital, Delhi distribution company (discom) BSES, here on Tuesday, announced launch of a pilot project to set up solar micro grids in the east and central Delhi under the jurisdiction of BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL).
According to a release, similar grids are planned for the south and west Delhi, which are under the jurisdiction of BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL).
"These micro grids will combine rooftop solar plants with lithium-ion-based (Li Ion) battery energy storage systems. As a technology demonstrator, four such micro grids have been set up at BYPL offices in east Delhi," the release said.
While the energy generated through rooftop solar plants is being used for catering to the internal power requirements of office loads and to charge batteries, the surplus is fed into the grid, "which has the potential to reduce the electricity bills," it added.
Noting the multiple benefits of such micro grids, the BSES said the initial results of the pilot project at four BYPL locations have been encouraging. The discom has installed rooftop solar plants, varying between 5 kilowatt (kW) and 7 kW and energy battery storage between 7 kilowatt-hour (kWhr) and 10 kWhr.
"They show that over this period only 8 per cent of grid power (net of exports) was used. The balance 92 per cent was generated and met through the solar plant coupled with the energy battery storage," the release said.
"Apart from this, around 1,245 litre of diesel and 0.24 million units of electricity amounting to Rs 20 lakh can be saved on annual basis. Additionally, it can also reduce CO2 of around 205 tonnes.
"A pan discom (including at consumer location) rollout of 1,000 such solar energy battery storage micro grids has the potential to save around 62 million units of electricity and over 3 lakh litre of diesel amounting to around Rs 41 crore on an annual basis. Moreover, this will lead to CO2 reduction of around 51,000 tonnes," it added.
The discom has tied up with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) to gauge and assess the performance of the micro grid pilot project and to popularise the concept.
Commenting on the development, a BSES spokesperson said: "With an aim to increase the penetration of renewable energy, reduce carbon footprint and to help our consumers reduce electricity bills, the BSES is going higher in the renewable energy value chain."
The current cost of setting up a rooftop solar system is around Rs 40,000 per kW and around Rs 80,000 per kW for an energy storage system. "This may further go down as the number of consumers increase," the company said.
--IANS
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