Mumbai civic body’s building in Worli to soon run on solar energy

This is the first office of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which will run on solar power and the panels will cater to the electricity demands of at least a portion of the building, bringing down the monthly bill by 30%.

The civic body has decided to install solar panels on the rooftop of its four-storeyed engineers’ hub building in Worli.

The civic body has decided to install solar panels on the rooftop of its four-storeyed engineers’ hub building in Worli. (HT File(Representative Image))

This is the first office of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which will run on solar power and the panels will cater to the electricity demands of at least a portion of the building, bringing down the monthly bill by 30%. The civic body pays around ₹2 crore every month to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) as power charges for its Worli building.

The cost of the project is estimated at ₹2.19 crore and includes maintenance and operations charges for a period of five years.

A senior civic official in-charge of the project, said, “We may not be able to use the solar power to the optimum during July and August, owing to the rains. However, we expect to recover the cost of the project within five years after getting a rebate from BEST on the bills.”

Installed in an area of 4,500 square metres, the panels will generate 360 kilowatt-peak (kWp) and will power the elevators and lights of the structure. The solar panels on the engineers’ hub building will have a separate metering system. The Worli hub has a total demand of 750 kWp of electricity to power the elevators, centralised air-conditioning unit, lighting, fire system including the alarms and sprinklers.

Civic chief Praveen Pardeshi said that the BMC will adopt renewable energy to power all its buildings.

“All the BMC-owned buildings will be fitted with solar panels on their rooftops. The civic body must set an example, especially when we are making it compulsory for private builders to install solar panes in new construction projects to get concessions from us,” he said.

As per the solar rooftop calculator of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the civic body will mitigate 11,070 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by installing the panels. This is equivalent to 17,712 teak trees absorbing carbon dioxide.