installation of solar water heating systems

Oct 26- Haryana Government has taken a lead in installationof solar water heating systems in social sector institutions as aninnovative initiative aimed at benefitting socially deprived sectionsof the society. The scheme has drawn applause from all quartersincluding the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy , Government ofIndia.Giving this information here today, an official spokesman said thatthe objective of the programme is to popularize the use of solar waterheating systems and conserve electricity and conventional fuels inwater heating applications on one hand and to take the latesttechnologies to the deprived sections of the society on the other.Under the Scheme, solar water heating systems are installed insocially oriented institutions with 90 per cent financial assistance.The popularity of the scheme can be gauged from the fact that HaryanaRenewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) has already installedsolar water heating systems of 42,800 lpd capacity at a cost ofapprox. Rs. 1.00 crore against a target of 40,000 lpd for the currentfinancial year.The spokesman further said that social sector institutions areworking for the welfare of the under privileged and deprived sectionsof the society and therefore, the State Govt. has decided to equipthem with solar geysers so that their inmates get hot water for theircooking, bathing and washing requirements in the winters. Under thescheme, socially orientated institutions like working women hostels,Orphanages, Deaf and Dumb Centres, Creches, Old age homes, NariNiketans, Bal Niketans, Sports Hostels, Charitable Institutes, naturaltreatment centres. Hostels for the Scheduled Caste students etc. whichare registered institutions for last three years and are working onno-profit basis are eligible for the financial assistance.Elaborating the solar water heating technology, the spokesman saidthat the cost of installation of solar water heating system rangesfrom Rs. 250/- per litre to Rs. 170/- per litre depending upon thecapacity of the systems. The larger the size the less will be the costof the system. A solar water heating system of 100 lpd capacity cansave about 1500 unit of electricity annually. Thousand no. of 100litre per day(LDP) capacity systems contribute to 1 MW peak loadshaving. In addition to this, a 100 LPD system also avoids emission of1.5 tonnes of CO2 annually. The payback period of a solar waterheating system is approx. 3 to 5 years. The solar water heatingsystems technology is a mature technology and has already establishedits market in the commercial sectors.The spokesman said that to popularize installation of solar geysersin domestic sector, the State Govt. is implementing the scheme forsolar water heating systems in individual homes under which capitalsubsidy upto Rs. 10,000/- is available on installation of solar waterheating systems. The user is free to chose the make of the solarwater heating systems provided it should be either BIS/.MNRE approved. Under this scheme, evacuated tube collectors (ETC) based systems arealso eligible for the subsidy.The spokesman further said that in addition to the capital subsidy,rebate in electricity bills is also available on installation of solarwater heating systems at Rs. 100 per month per 100 litre systeminstalled limited to Rs. 300 per month for a period of three years.Under the scheme, 125 solar water heating systems of 28,000 litrescapacity were installed in the State during the year 2007-08 which isthe highest no. of systems installed in the domestic category in ayear in the State so far.These unique schemes have resulted in saving of 1.5 million units ofelectricity translating into peak load shaving of 1.0 MW and CO2emission reduction by 1500 tonnes annually. The spokesman said thatthe Haryana is the first State in the country where such incentivesare available on installation of solar geysers. The spokesman saidthat interested people may contact office of the Additional DeputyCommissioner of their district or HAREDA to avail the benefits of this scheme.

Solar power plants in Sirsa and Faridabad

October 20 – Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy hassanction a project for installation of 15 Solar Power Plants of 1KWpeach in 13 sub-divisions of DHBVN, Sirsa and 2 Sub-divisions of DHBVNFaridabad with a total cost of approx. Rs. 52.50 lakh. While stating this here today, a spokesman of Haryana RenewableEnergy Development Agency (HAREDA) said that by using one such powerplant, two T-5 Retrofit Tubelights (28 watt), 10 numbers of 20 wattCFLs and 6 numbers of ceiling fan (50 watt) would be run, in eachsub-division office for four hours daily. He said that tenders havebeen invited and work order was being placed. He said that HAREDA had taken up multi-pronged strategy forpromotion of Solar Water Heating Systems in the State. Under thisprogramme, Haryana Government is providing a number of incentivesto the users of solar water heating systems. On installation of solarwater heating system of 100 litre and 200 litre capacities, capitalsubsidy of Rs 5000 and Rs 10,000 respectively was being provided todomestic consumers.Besides, a rebate of Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 300 per month was beinggiven on electricity bills to the domestic users of solar waterGeysers of 100 litres, 200 litres and 300 litres capacities, respectively.He said that the rebate was being given from the subsequent month ofinstallation for a period of three years. He said that the scheme wouldbe applicable only for residents of Haryana and employees of stategovernment residing in Chandigarh.To purchase solar geysers, the nationalized banks were providing easyloan facility at the rate of 2 per cent, 3 per cent and 5 per centinterest to domestic, institutional and commercial consumersrespectively. Apart from this, a rebate of Rs.3500 was also being givento registered institutions on installing 100 litres solar geyser whereas arebate of Rs.2800 to such commercial institutions who do not avail loanfacilities. Referring the benefits of solar water geysers, the spokesmaninformed that an amount of Rs.7200 per year (spent on electricity bill)could be saved by using 100 litres capacity solar geyser. Any otherinformation in this regard could be had from websitewww.hareda.gov.in, he added.

Waste water pilot project

Oct 8 - The Central Government and Haryana Government will jointly undertake a pilot project to check the fast decreasing underground water level in the State. Under the project dirty water ofthe villages will be collected in the village ponds and fish will becultured in these ponds, which not only replenish the undergroundwater table, but also augment the income of the panchayats.This was disclosed by Mr.C.P.Shrivastav, Superintending Geologist ofCentral Underground Water Board while inspecting the rural pondsconstructed for this purpose in the village Barna of Kurukshetradistrict and village Saleempur Madud of Kaithal district.He said that under the project the village ponds would be dividedinto two parts to collect clean and dirty water separately. The cleanwater would be used for animals and dirty water for fisheries. The underground water table was fast depleting due to use of excessive water for growing paddy in the paddy zone of the State. If the processof using excessive water continued, even the submersible tubewellwould also fail creating acute shortage of water for drinking andirrigation purposes, he added.

Essay writing competition on renewable energy

October 4 - Taking a new initiative for popularization ofenergy conservation among school children, the Haryana RenewableEnergy Development Agency (HAREDA) has decided to conduct an EssayWriting Competition for the students of 6th to 8th standard of the State. The topic for the Essay is "EnergyConservation –Need of the Hour".Giving this information, Director HAREDA, Mrs Sumita Misra, saidthat the Department of Renewable Energy, was the State DesignatedAgency for implementation of the Energy Conservation Act 2001 andother related programmes. It had been felt that there was a great needfor creation of mass awareness among the public on this vital issue.HAREDA had undertaken a massive awareness campaign to promote energyconservation in the State. As a part of it, an essay writingcompetition would be organized this year for the students at thedistrict and state level. The aim of competition was to motivate thechildren towards energy conservation and to offer them a chance toexpress their ideas on energy conservation.Mrs Misra said that schools all across the state would organize thecompetition at their own level and then forward the best two entriesto the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of their respectivedistrict by October 21, 2008. The students would have to write anessay of about 500 words in two hours. The ADC office would evaluatethese entries and select best five entries for district level awardsand send the same to HAREDA by November 5, 2008. HAREDA would selectbest 50 entries for State level competition and these students wouldbe invited to Panchkula for writing the essays on a related topic onNovember 25. The students would be paid Rs.500 each to meet theirtraveling expenses.Giving details of the prizes, she said that at district level, thefirst prize carries a cash prize of Rs. 1500, second prize Rs. 1000,third prize Rs. 750 and two consolation prizes of Rs. 500 each. Theseprizes would be given in the District Level Energy Conservation DayFunctions. For the state level competition, first prize of Rs.21,000,second prize of Rs.15,000, third prize of Rs.10,000 and tenconsolation prizes of Rs.2000 each would be given. These prizes wouldbe given in the State Level Energy Conservation Day Function to beorganized in December, 2008 by HAREDA.She called upon all the school authorities in the State to activelyparticipate in the Essay Writing Competition and send their two bestentries to the ADC of their district.