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NMC to go fully solar to meet energy needs.

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has taken a lead among government agencies and local bodies by deciding to go fully solar to meet its electricity requirements.The civic body has already installed some solar panels and now it has floated a tender for appointing a consultant to achieve the goal. It has also decided to replace all its ceiling fans by energy efficient ones and tubelights by LED tubes.An NMC officer told TOI that the civic body has already installed solar panels having capacity of 125 KW. "We have installed panels with 50 KW capacity in Civil Lines office and 25 KW each in Ashi Nagar and Nehru Nagar zone offices.

The civic body got 50% grant from the Centre for these panels. Present panels are without battery backup as the consumption takes place only during day (office hours). Now, the civic body has applied to MSEDCL for getting grid connectivity. Once this happens, we can do away with a regular power connection," he said.According to the officer, NMC has got sanction for another 960 KW. "We will install the panels in all our zone offices, town hall and other important buildings. The cost of the project is 7.80 crore of which 30% will be government grant. Half of this grant has already been received," he added.The demand has picked up now but the subsidized government scheme is over. This is a sad situation as people were getting water heaters for just 7,400 then.