In a first, BMC to install solar panels atop its Worli building
BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi has also indicated that all civic buildings will soon switch to renewable energy (Picture Courtesy: maxwell-india.com)
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to install solar panels atop the roof of its engineers’ hub building in Worli, a move it later plans to replicate across all its offices.
The four-storey engineer’s hub building will be the first BMC office to partially switch to a renewable energy source.
At present, the building needs 750 kWp of electricity to power the ACs, lights, elevators, fire system, etc and the BMC pays about Rs 2 crore in monthly power bills to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
It will now spend around Rs 2.19 crore, including maintenance and operations charges for a period of five years, to install solar panels on the building’s roof.
The panels will reportedly be installed in an area admeasuring 4,500 square metres and generate 360 kilowatt-peak (kWp), enough to power the lights and elevators.
The move is expected to reduce the monthly electricity bill by roughly 30 percent. In lieu of the savings, officials estimate to recover the cost of the project in the next five years.
BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi has also indicated that all civic buildings will soon switch to renewable energy.
“All the BMC-owned buildings will be fitted with solar panels on their rooftops. The civic body must set an example, especially when we are making it compulsory for private builders to install solar panels in new construction projects to get concessions from us,” he told Hindustan Times.
According to the daily, the civic body will mitigate 11,070 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by installing the panels, equivalent to 17,712 teak trees absorbing carbon dioxide.
