Proposal calls for solar systems at Tamil Nadu universities

Sep 26, 2012 - A proposal by P Kandaswamy, Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, envisages the installation of solar power at the universities in India's Tamil Nadu state, with a pilot 1-MW project at Bharathiar University this year.

Under the proposed “Green Energy for Higher Education Institutes in Tamil Nadu” plan, submitted to the state government, the capacity of the Bharathiar installation can grow by 2 MW each year, as the university has some 25 acres (10 ha) of land. Kandaswamy calls for similar in capacity terms projects in Madurai Kamaraj University, Alagappa University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and Tamil University, as they own enough land.

The plan also suggests that rooftop solar power systems can be installed at Periyar University, Thiruvalluvar University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Anna University, which do not have enough land for big ground-mounted installations. For entities that have neither land nor roofspace for solar power, such as the The University of Madras, Kandaswamy proposes a system of 500 kW that, according to him, can be installed in 2013.

Solar power facilities of 250 kW can be deployed in government colleges in 2014 and in all aided colleges in 2015, the proposal says. Self-financing colleges can join the initiative in 2016.

According to Kandaswamy’s idea, the government should oblige all self-financing colleges to generate solar energy from 2017.

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