THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: From now on, as part of the state’s energy conservation drive, an additional Rs 50,000- Rs 1.5 lakh will have to be shelled out to construct a normal middle-class house.
The Energy Conservation Directions (ECD) 2015, brought out by the Power Department, has made it mandatory for all new residential buildings having a plinth area of 3,000 sq ft and above to install solar power plant with a minimum capacity of 1 kW.
The average cost of installing such a plant is Rs 1.5 lakh. KSEB Limited has been authorized to deny power connection to households not complying with this new conservation standard.
ECD states that existing buildings, with 3,000 sq ft or more floor area, will have to install a solar plant of 1 kW capacity within a period of one year from the date of this notification (June 11) for meeting partial, or full electrical energy requirements.
These guidelines have been issued as part of rationalising the use of electrical energy. Smaller households too have to meet certain conservation standards.
“All new domestic buildings having a floor area of 2,000sq ft to 3,000 sq ft should install 500 MW solar power systems,” the ECD states.
This would cost between Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. What’s more, the hot water requirements of new buildings having a floor area of 2,000 sq ft or above should mandatorily be met using solar water heaters with a minimum size of 100 litre.
Considering the gluttony of inverters, the ECD states that all grid-charged inverters must be converted to solar charging. However, it can be done in a phased manner but before June 11, 2016.
Grid-charging should be resorted to only as an emergency back-up. Households have also been asked to provide automatic facility to avoid charging of inverters from grid during peak period.
The ECD authorizes the distribution utility, KSEB Limited, to check and verify whether solar plants have been installed before granting power connection.
