THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Water Authority is hoping for a favourable allocation from the state budget to launch its ambitious plans for reducing power burden through solar energy. The Authority’s financial crunch has stifled its plans of converting 36 acres of vacant land at Moongilmada in Palakkad into a solar field to generate at least 5 MW of power.
“KWA has undertaken the land clearing works at Moongilmada to install solar plant. But it requires `5 crore to generate 1 MW of power,” said a source. According to him, the solar project would have to wait till a budget allocation is made. KWA is facing a financial crunch and is running short of `30 crore a month in terms of revenue gap.
Earlier in November last year, KWA had signed an agreement with Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) to make use of its office rooftops and land for solar power generation. The deal was to generate 13.5 mega watts of power. Moongilmada land alone can generate 6 to 8 MW.
The KWA management decided to tap solar energy as rising power bill are a major drain on its finances. The plan is meet at least 10 per cent of the requirement using renewable energy. Power bill constitutes 30 per cent of the operating expense of its energy intensive water supply schemes. It has 1,080 water supply schemes.