NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Islamia has significantly reduced its carbon footprint by switching to renewable energy in a big way by setting up a 2.50 Megawatt peak (MWP) capacity solar power plant on its campus.
“It has the largest rooftop solar plant (among universities), for which a memorandum of understanding was signed with a Noida-based company, Solar Energy Corporation of India. The company installed more than 2.50 MWP solar photovoltaic systems on the RESCO model at zero cost to the university,” said Prof. Ahteshamul Haque, Department of Electrical Engineering.
In the RESCO model, a Renewable Energy Service Company sets up the solar power project and then monetises the energy produced.
“This step will result in saving not only money that the university spends on its electricity bills, but also reduce the carbon footprint. With the installation of the 2.50 MWP plant, Jamia Millia Islamia is expected to save over Rs 1.7-2.1 crore annually, apart from significantly contributing to the environment. The project will also be beneficial for students, as it will help them get practical training and even jobs in future,” Haque said.
The Department of Electrical Engineering at the varsity is also involved in a research project sanctioned by the Union human resource development ministry, titled Future of Earth: Green and Renewable Technologies.
The project is being carried out in collaboration with Alborg University, Denmark. Huai Wang, the project’s principal investigator from Alborg University, said, “We have the technology and India has the human resource. With the help of both, we will try to constitute the research project in an effective manner. Our objective is to bring out the developments in the field of research.” He added that Indian students had great potential to contribute to research.