High on power

The solar power generation plant, constructed by part time students of Govt MEC, Trikkakkara, has considerably brought down the electricity bill at the college
High on power

KOCHI: The solar power generation plant, installed recently at the Govt. Model Engineering College, Trikkakkara, is an example of sustainable engineering. The model, created by students of the final year B.Tech students of a part time evening batch, is a feather in their cap. The plant was inaugurated by Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Co-operation, Devaswom and Tourism of Kerala.

“The responsiblity of engineering students must be to find useful solutions to society and mankind. Since regular students lack work experience, there are limitations for them to take up a complex project like this. All the part time students had minimum two years work experience, which helped them with the project,” said V P Devassia, principal.

The benefit of the solar generation plant? “There is a visible variance in the electricity bill. Earlier, the bill would round up to Rs 1.8 lakh, but now it has been brought to around Rs.30,000,” he said.
The 30kw on-grid solar plant built on the rooftop of the main building has been constructed at 300 sq metres of the total area. Since during holidays, power consumption for the college is very low, the power generated is also sent to the KSEB. “The project was financed by alumni, students, and staff of the college.

The plant which has a lifespan of 30 years aims to make the college self-reliant for the production and consumption of energy.  Also, it is expected to provide opportunities for understanding and studying solar energy related topics besides encouraging the use of non-conventional energy resources,” he said.
The major objective of this project, according to the principal, was to cut down the energy crisis. We cannot minimise the usage, but can find alternative power sources to reduce it. However, this is only a small step towards our dream to be completely be self-reliant,” said Bindu V, head of Electronics Department.
    
The project

“We actually wanted to do a project for future utilisation and it was initially aimed at 100kW as per the demand of the college. After the project got approved, we decided to complete the first phase by the month of April by the combined cooperation of ANERT authorised nodal agency and Soura Natural Energy India Ltd. under Govt. subsidy scheme.” - said Ajayakumar, alumnus.

The installation of the solar panels were completed following the safety standards and measures set by the government. Once the project report got approved, the site for installation was selected. Afterwards, a scheme approval drawing was prepared and won approval after the issue of feasibility certificates. Later agreements were signed by the principal after the completion of registration procedures, and a cheque for 50% of the total expense was hand overe to ANERT and Soura agency.

“Though we received subsidy of 5-6 lakhs we had to spend around 20 lakh for its completion. Now we are planning to expand this to the next phase,” the principal said.

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