COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore city municipal corporation has saved around Rs 16 crore in electricity bills each year since 2018, by using energy efficient street lights and harnessing solar power.
Commissioner M Prathap disclosed this information on Friday to a delegation of officials from the union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), led by additional director general, PIB (M&C) Rajeev Jain, that inspected projects developed under the Smart City Projects.
Briefing the officials, Prathap told them that CCMC intends to ensure that all residents of Coimbatore city, including the urban poor, have access to affordable and reliable power supply. Under the differential electricity tariff, urban poor enjoy free electricity up to 100 kWh after which slab-based charges apply, he said.
“In the last few years, CCMC has been saving a huge sum of money as well as energy after switching over to enery efficient systems. We have been saving around Rs 10 crore per year in electricity charges after installing LED street lights in 2018. Around one lakh conventional lights were replaced with smart LED street lights since 2018. Apart from that, the civic body has also been saving energy and money by installing solar power plants,” Prathap said.
As per CCMC sources, the use of renewable energy technologies has also helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By 2030, the city will have a substantial share of renewable energy in its energy mix. Towards this end, the CCMC has turned its attention to harness solar energy to meet its demand.
Sources in the Smart City Projects mission said, “A total of 23,717 MW of electricity is saved every year by using solar power plants and LED lights. With this, the CCMC saves around Rs 16.05 crore per year in electricity charges. Currently, solar power plants are functioning in Ukkadam Sewage Farm Premises (1 MW), Ukkadam old dump yard premises (3.6 MW), Kavundampalayam old dump yard premises (1 MW) and rooftop solar panels on municipal corporation buildings (0.625 MW).”
Further, Prathap said installation work of a 2-MW solar power plant in Kavundampalayam and a 140 KWP floating solar power plant in Ukkadam Periyakulam is under way.