ROURKELA: Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) announced on Wednesday, August 4, that they plan on installing solar power panels on the rooftops of over 54 official buildings in the city. The move is being made to cut down on the use of conventional means of energy and to promote the use of green energy.
For the installation of the panels, RMC has signed up with Koel Fresh Pvt Ltd, a clean-tech energy startup based out of Odisha. The panels would later be installed on private buildings that can set up a 30 MW open space solar power park.
Dibyajyoti Parida, Commissioner, RMC, said that the ‘Solarisation Rourkela’ program is intrinsic to the vision of the city’s development. Under the initiative, RMC will also be conducting awareness campaigns for citizens to educate them on the benefits of clean energy. The program would also be reaching out to private households, institutions and commercial buildings to encourage them to adopt solar power.
According to experts, the adoption of clean energy is the only solution to fight climate change.
Solar panel users can export their surplus energy back to the grid under the net metering system and can get their energy bills adjusted. The reason why the implementation of the initiative has been delayed is that there is only one standard testing laboratory for solar meters in Odisha that is located in Bhubaneswar.