Chennai: Eleven prison complexes in Tamil Nadu are to become self sufficient in power. The prisons department is planning to set up grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic plants (SVPs) in eight central prisons, two special prisons for women and a Borstal school to reduce conventional energy consumption and supply excess energy to the grid.
The first to get the rooftop SPVs is the Central Prison at Puzhal here. It will have a capacity of 328-kilo watt at a cost of Rs 2.40 crore. “Soon tender for the rooftop SPV plant in Puzhal prison will be floated,” said sources in Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (Teda).
The prison department had initially proposed to install rooftop SPV plant in Central prisons at Puzhal, Vellore, Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Madurai, Palayamkottai, Cuddalore and Salem, Special Prison for Women at Tiruchy and Vellore and Pudukottai Borstal School at a total cost of Rs 34.78 crore with a total capacity of 4,700 kilowatt. In the detailed project report for the proposal, Teda had scaled down the capacity of the rooftop solar system to 1,875 kilowatt based on the annual electricity consumption of the building and also considering the commercial cap of 90 per cent fixed by TNERC in bill adjustment.
“We will soon send the financial estimate for these proposal to the prison department. Once they pay us, we will float bid for it,” said TEDA sources. As per the benchmark cost fixed by the ministry of new and renewable energy, a kilowatt of rooftop SPV plant costs about Rs 80,000 and it is expected to come down to Rs 75,000.
“We hope to meet our demands in those prisons by the project. And if there is excess, we can give it to the grid,’ said J. K. Tripathy, additional director general of police (Prisons)
