KOCHI: Kerala colleges are taking the lead in generating power from renewable energy sources and selling the excess power to the KSEB. One of the colleges has been giving around 5,000 units of electricity to the KSEB grid every month.
While Sacred Heart College at Thevara is harnessing both wind and solar energy, other major colleges like St Teresa’s College, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, UC College, Aluva, St Xavier’s College and Bharata Mata College are using solar energy to meet their power needs.
According to Dr Mathew George, coordinator of the EnCon club of Sacred Heart College, with the setting up of the windmill, the college became the first and most probably the only education institution in the state to generate electricity using wind power.
The windmill can generate 1kWp power, he added.”This is besides the 140 kWp solar power being already generated with the help of the solar panels set up on the roof of the college,” said Mathew. He said the college has plans to upgrade the capacity of the windmill power plant to 20kWp soon.
Nearly all these colleges have solar plants that are connected to the KSEB grid. “We generate around 250kWp electricity and we are the first college in Kerala to be fully powered by solar energy,”said Binoy Joseph, principal, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences at Kalamassery. The solar panels, spread over 30,000 sq ft across the college building, present an imposing sight.
“The college has recorded a daily maximum production of 1,372 units per day. The daily average production is 1,016 units. Solar energy production supports the college completely hence, eliminating the expense of electricity consumption which amounts to a monthly average of 30,360 kWh,” he said.
State colleges spread message of going green
According to Binoy Joseph, the college gives around 5,000 units of electricity to the KSEB grid every month. Alphonsa Vijaya, principal, St Teresa’s College, said that electricity needs of the college is met through solar energy. “The college generates 100kWp of power everyday. Soon another 70kWp will be produced once the new set of panels are commissioned.
We also got the energy conservation award for the year 2021-22. Besides, using solar power, we have got LED lights in all our classrooms and offices. We want to reduce the carbon footprint,”she said, adding that the college gives excess power to the grid. St Xavier’s College, Aluva, also uses solar power to meet most of their electricity requirements.
“We have 24 solar panels producing 8kWp of electricity,” said Liss Maries, assistant professor at St Xavier’s College. Besides reducing the expense on power, these institutions are spreading the message of going green, in terms, of power generation and some of these colleges have also been awarded for their green power initiatives.
“Sacred Heart College was awarded the Energy Conservation Award for the year 2021-22 for our green power initiatives. The aim behind using renewable sources of energy in the college is to educate the students on the importance of going green and energy conservation,” Mathew added.