AURANGABAD: Relief is on the cards for the cash-strapped civic body as the authorities have decided to make use of solar energy in place of conventional sources.
The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) plans to install rooftop solar panels at its main administrative buildings.
An investment of Rs 53.32 lakh will be allotted for the work, to save on electricity charges which are around Rs 1.5 lakh a month for the main administrative buildings.
Mayor Bapu Ghadamode on Saturday approved the municipal administration’s proposal to spend Rs 53.32 lakh for the ambitious project.
In the proposal, the municipal officials have said that the civic body would recover the investment in three years.
Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA) designed the proposal to install panels of 80KVA capacity for the AMC.
Project expenses include maintenance costs for the next five years.
The civic body has been working on the proposal for the past few years.
The Centre shortlisted the city for the solar city project in 2014-15. The initiative was launched by the Union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).
Under the project, the AMC was looking to install rooftop solar panels at all of its civic offices, schools and hospitals.
The previous UPA government had released a first instalment of Rs 5 lakh to propagate the solar energy concept in the city and had promised to allot a separate fund of Rs 50 lakh within a five-year span.
But the project failed to move forward since then.
Authorities planned to set up the project independently.
“We are spending our own funds with an aim to save money.
This is the first project of this kind and we may replicate it in other places,” Sikander Ali, AMC’s executive engineer, said.
Source: Solar energy gift for civic body main building – Times of India