Kochi: The solar city project in Kochi received a shot in the arm with the consultancy, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), submitting the master plan to the city corporation. The work on the solar city will start soon after the corporation council approves the master plan.
ICLEI deputy director Sunandan Tiwari handed over the master plan to Mayor Tony Chammany at a function held in New Delhi.
A total amount of Rs 696.59 crore, to be invested over five years, will be shared by the state government, city corporation, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and private users.
The Union government has allocated an initial fund of Rs 50 lakh to the Kochi Corporation of which Rs 19.42 lakh has already been disbursed.
For the last one year, ICLEI experts were preparing the master plan which was completed in January this year. The draft plan was finalised after incorporating the suggestions of the stakeholders.
As per the master plan, the estimated energy consumption in the city will increase to 975 million units by 2021.
The renewable energy sources and energy efficiency initiatives can reduce the energy consumption by 155.42 million units over five years.
Renewable energy interventions alone can produce 93.64 million units, while the energy efficiency programmes can save 63.04 million units over the same period.
The MNRE had selected Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram for the solar city project and ANERT has been selected as the nodal agency for implementation.
The ICLEI experts analysed the pattern of energy consumption in the city.
It has been identified that the main sources of energy in the city are electricity, petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene with the transport sector being the biggest consumer of energy.
