Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Solar Shop in New Town

New Town is a Solar City. Last Sunday, Minister Firhad Hakim released a small booklet on use of Solar Energy. On my suggestion, CEO and AO NKDA had got it illustrated  by cartoonist Chandi Lahiri. It has many nuggets of useful information; a sample:

- Cost of solar energy module often pays for itself in 5-6 years. The Solar Panel is often guaranteed for 25 years by the manufacturer.
- One needs 120 sq ft of space for 1 kilo watt energy generation
- A rooftop solar hot water costs Rs 25,000 or so.

 It also lists out initiatives - private and public - already taken in New Town. Some examples:

- 500 KW canal-top solar energy project by NKDA (ongoing; located near Banglar Haat / Eco Park)
- 140 KW rooftop system in Coal India Bhavan (close to Najrul Tirtha)
-  2% of demand by solar power: Tata Housing, Sankar Netrlaya, Surakshya, Sampurna Husing Co-operative, Santiniketan Housing Co-operative, etc.

Here is an illustration contained in the book:

Cartoon by Chandi Lahiri on booklet on Solar City 

Incidentally, we from NKDA have also decided to install solar rooftop power plants at CG Community Market (peak power 27 KW), IA Community Market (19 KW), Hidco Bhavan (13 KW), Finance Centre (21 KW) and NKDA Office (10 KW). Uttam Jana, Superintending Engineer tellsme that he expects to start work in these projects this month.

In IA market, one stall (bearing number S25) has been earmarked for selling solar energy products.
Allotment would be made through lottery among agencies recognized by MNRE.
* * *
Here are a few clippings:
The Statesman dt 4 Nov 2014

Ekdin dt 4 Nov 2014

HT dt 3 Nov 2014
Times of India dt 3 Nov 2014

See http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Record-815m-sq-ft-of-flats-unsold-in-6-cities/articleshow/45052062.cms?intenttarget=no

Telegraph Metro dt 3 Nov 2014
Ei Samay dt 3 Nov 2014
Khabar 365 dt 3 Nov 2014
Pratidin dt 3 Nov 2014

5 comments:

  1. Great initiative on solar power generation. Slowly we are incing towards the 1 MB mark. Cant we also include the following places for solar power generation?

    1. Rooftop of Nazrul Tirtha
    2. Some portion of Sr Citizens park
    3. Some portion of Eco Park.
    4. Rooftop of market in AA-2.

    Sir, I think in the list you mentioned in the post , you forgot to include floating water jetty for solar power generation in the lake of Eco Park.

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  2. Dear Sir,
    thank you very much for your sincere efforts to develop New Town as a smart green solar city. Regarding e-rikshaws, my humble request is, kindly allow only those models of e-rikshaws which match with the aesthetics of New Town--like the one showed in the last news clip--other van-rikshaw type models will harm the beautiful image of this city.
    Another request to you is that kindly help us to keep our smart city free from shabby-looking hawker shanties--kindly make such rules that if hawkers have to come here, then at least they should come with wheeled carts.
    Thank you very much again. People will never forget your contribution towards the development of Kolkata as well as West Bengal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely agree with Nirmalya.. only the model of e-rickshaw in the last photo (from Pratidin) should be allowed in New town ! The others have a pathetic third world look !

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    2. I agree with above; but e-Ricksaw manufacturers are small business houses; unlike Bajaj or Tata. Low cost design doesn't leave much scope for aesthetics (Even standard auto ricksaw isn't good looking). More so, as the customers of these vehicles are essentially auto-ricksaw drivers etc. They wouldn't be bothered about the aesthetics; unlike the residents of NewTown.

      Only hope was if WBHIDCO purchased a fleet (customized with aesthetic inputs from them) and then leased it out to weaker sections under some scheme. But, that is not a feasible thing to do for a govt. organization like WBHIDCO.

      So, I guess we have to live with it. May be, as they spread across NewTown - manufacturers would come up with better designs (Just like Mahindra did on their battery operated car Reva).

      Regards,
      Sowmik

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  3. Wax Museum inside Finance Center? Doesn't sound and indicate good.

    ReplyDelete