Odisha govt colleges to get solar rooftop power systems

Bhubaneswar: The state government has taken a decision to install solar power systems on rooftops of 48 government degree colleges and 16 teacher education institutes (TEIs) in Odisha. An agency has been engaged to install these systems after conducting thorough surveys.
The state government has assigned Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (GEDCOL), a subsidiary of state-owned Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), for the work of installation of solar rooftop power systems in the 64 colleges under the purview of the higher education department.
Official sources on Thursday said the agency will initially survey the institutions for total roof area for maximum harness of solar energy and total energy requirement of each institution.
A detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared by the agency for this work. The higher education department has written a letter to GEDCOL chief executive officer for this survey and preparation of DPR.
Out of the 48 government degree colleges, some of these are BJB autonomous college and Rajdhani College from Bhubaneswar, SCS Autonomous College and Government Women’s Degree College from Puri, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Degree College and Government Women’s Degree College from Sambalpur, Fakir Mohan Autonomous College and KKS Women’s Degree College from Balasore, five colleges from Sundargarh district and four colleges from Ganjam district.
Earlier, the department had decided to install solar power systems on rooftops of state public universities to make these institutions green and reduce the cost of their energy consumption.
Last year, the health and family welfare department had decided to come up with roof top solar projects at seven medical colleges and 32 district headquarters hospitals (DHHs) across the state. It will be installed on the rooftops of the health institutions and hospitals under the renewable energy service company (RESCO) programme of the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA).