Lawrence School in HSR Layout and Mt Litera Zee School in Kudlu near Sector 2 have gone solar, paving the way for more.
Three years ago, Zee did it by opting for the ‘zero cost’ model of Solarify, a three-year-old company based out of Jayanagar. In this case, an investor paid Rs 50-60 lakh for a 96 KW plant. The school will continue to pay Bescom but not at the earlier rate of Rs 8-9/unit, but only at Rs 7/unit.
However, Lawrence School in Sector 6 invested its own money for a 40KW unit last year. This year, the panels have been removed to make way for another floor. Once that’s up, the panels will be put back, most probably by December this year.
Solarify is game to do other schools too at zero cost, provided they have several branches in the city or if their rooftop area is at least 10,000 sq. ft, so they can install a 75-100 kilo watt solar plant. If you are a house owner with a 1200 sq. ft plot, you could spend Rs 2 lakh and get back your investment in 6.5 years, according to Solarify that takes up every solar project conceivable.
“Zee School is saving Rs 20,000-30,000 every month without any investment,” says Sharath Devineni, founder, Solarify. “After 10 years, the plant is theirs. Schools are the most powerful influencers on young minds. A school that runs on clean energy, instills a sense of social responsibility in its students.”
The difference between the two schools is simple. Zee is paying the electricity bills and saving money on power bills without investing anything, while Lawrence is not paying power bills as it invested its own money.
The biggest hurdle to adoption of solar energy were regulatory issues. However, they have been simplified in the last two months. “The number of steps have reduced from four to one, and the registration is done online,” says Sharath. “The major hurdle was a safety inspection, but now that’s not necessary. Unlike earlier when the Bescom officials would take their own time to install, now they can’t as there are specific timelines for every stage of the work.”
According to Sharath, the only issue pending right now is the software tweaking required for the billing of domestic and commercial enterprises. “This will take time, but what’s best right now is that things have become quite decentralised.”
When many more larger homes, schools and offices take up rooftop solar, the power consumption will come down and Karnataka could become a power-surplus state. Touchwood.