Can you dream of a world with zero power cuts? Shivkumar Sethuraman from Hyderabad achieved the seemingly impossible target by installing a solar power generation unit in his house.
If you have some savings and a terrace that gets plenty of sun, it is possible to drastically reduce your dependence on fossil fuels for electricity. This not only reduces your carbon footprint, but also creates a more sustainable future. The best part of the deal is that you can sell electricity to the government too.
This is why the government of India has been encouraging citizens to install their own solar power units. State governments provide the service at subsidised rates to reduce the per capita consumption of grid electricity.
Speaking about the process of setting it up, Shivkumar said: “There are agencies approved by the government which will do all the work, including application, sanction and installation. You can either go for a low or a high capacity one depending on the electricity load in your house. For example, if your connection has a load of 5 KVA, you will be sanctioned 5 KVA solar panels. In case you need more, you have to upgrade your native connection first. The approval comes within 15 days and installation work starts in the meantime.”
Telangana has vast solar potential with average solar insolation of nearly 5.5 kWh/m2 for more than 300 sunshine days. The Telangana state solar power policy was introduced in 2015 with the objective of harnessing the vast solar power potential of the state. This policy provided various incentives to prospective solar power developers. There are various categories of panels one can choose.
“We went for the high-rise ones in which the panels are mounted on a pergola. We have panels that have a capacity of 5KVA. One KVA panel generates 4-5 units of power on an average per day. So we have 20-22 units of power every day, and approximately 600 units every month. This is the estimate barring rainy days. The panels have to face south so that they get maximum sun exposure. It cost us Rs 3.2 lakh to buy and install the panels,” said Shivkumar.
“We always have excess electricity which is passed on to the grid. At night, when there is no Sun, we use the electricity from the government. The government pays us for the power we supply. The amount is adjusted in our electricity bills. There is another way of doing this where you can store the extra electricity in batteries. However, in that case, you cannot avail of the subsidies provided by the state,” added the HR professional.
In 2021-22, Telangana produced 7,439.12 MW of renewable energy, making up 41.17 per cent of the total installed capacity of electricity in the state.
Comments
0 comment