National Level Awareness Workshop on Roof-top Solar Energy Utilization held at IIT Roorkee
Roorkee: The Alternate Hydro Energy Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, in collaboration with Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency, Govt. of Uttarakhand, organised an awareness workshop on ‘Comprehensive Roof-top Solar Energy Utilization’. The workshop aimed at creating awareness among the academic institutions/schools/colleges, hospitals, hotels, industries, charitable buildings and home users about the technical, regulatory, financial and social aspects of solar energy installations. The participants for the workshop combined academicians from leading institutes like IITs, NITs, IIMs and other academic institutions and colleges along with hospitals, hotels and other establishments around Roorkee, Haridwar and Dehradun.
The speakers present at the workshop apprised the participants on various aspects of solarisation, including:
– Roof top solar photovoltaic
– Govt. of India policy
– State policies & regulations on roof top solar photovoltaic
– Net metering for roof top solarisation
Shri. R. K. Jain, in-charge of rooftop, Solar Energy Cooperation of India (SECI) sharing his experience for rooftop solar photovoltaic said that 712 MW under rooftop scheme has been developed till now in India.
Shri. B. C. K. Mishra, Managing Director, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited said that Net Metering improves the economic viability of the rooftop installations.
Further sharing the experiences of industry Shri Ravinder Singh, chief Business Development TATA Power Solar System added that the dynamics of rooftop SPV in residential sector will take off in 4-5 years with the advancement in storage energy technologies.
Speaking on this occasion, Prof. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said: that Covering entire campus through all three-type roof top solar energy systems has been an iconic initiative taken by IIT Roorkee though faculty and students for maximum utilization of rooftop solar energy.”
The workshop merges well with the overall initiative of the Government to foster renewable energy and generate 1,00,000 MW solarisation in the country by the year 2022 out of which 40,000 MW is planned through roof-top solarisation. The workshop participants also visited various solar installation sites at the IIT Roorkee campus to know more about the excellent opportunities for harnessing the solar energy especially on roof-top by everybody.
Speaking about the experience and the learnings from the workshop, a participant at the workshop said, “the workshop has been very informative in various aspects of setting up of rooftop solar photovoltaic at residential and commercial level to meet the increasing energy demands and reducing carbon footprints”.
IIT Roorkee has been a pioneer in utilizing solar energy on campus. It is perhaps the only academic institution having the comprehensive roof top solar energy installation and is an excellent showcase of solar technology to all the students, faculty and the visitors. The institute has utilized the roof-top area of every building on campus for off-grid and decentralized solar thermal applications for hostels and residences. The energy thus generated is being used for cooking, heating and to supplement electricity requirements of various departments.
– The campus has 27 units of photovoltaics (solar panels) that generates 24 lakh units of electricity annually
– 4,40,000 litres of water heated everyday covering the entire campus
– 9 student hostels utilise solar energy, equivalent to 5000, commercial LPG cylinders for steam cooking
The faculty and students have led successful initiatives for energy preservation by conducting energy audits, developing policy to decrease electricity consumption and reducing carbon footprint using solar energy.