Amid growing concerns about the national capital’s deteriorating air quality, the gurdwaras in the city have decided to turn to solar energy.

The gurdwaras in New Delhi have planned to utilize solar power to meet their day-to-day requirements. The renewal energy wing of Delhi’s Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has already initiated a 1 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) project, news agency ANI reported. The project will be commissioned by 31 March, 2018.

The solar project will generate around 4,000 units per day with annual generation of approximately 1.3 million units (MUs).

“It will allow the gurdwaras to use peak hour load during the day from solar panels. The solar project will work on photovoltaic effects and around 3,125 solar panels will be placed on rooftops of these gurdwaras,” Manjit Singh GK, the president of Delhi’s Gurdwara Management Committee said in a statement to ANI.

Initially, only four gurdwaras, namely Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Gurudwara Rakb Ganj, Gurdwara Nanak Piao, and Gurdwara Majnu Tk Tila, will utilize the solar power generated from the project.

The project will be commissioned by Sukhbir Agro Energy Limited (SAEL), and the capacity of the projects will be increased to 2 MW soon as more gurdwaras are brought under the program’s ambit.

The bad air quality in New Delhi has been a cause of concern for the country, with neither the state nor the central government having arrived at a definitive plan of action to tackle the issue. In the Budget 2018-19, the government announced the introduction of a new mechanism to deal with this rising health hazard. In his speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “A special scheme will be implemented to support the efforts of the governments of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the NCT of Delhi to address air pollution and to subsidize machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue”.

Recently,  Delhi’s major distribution company (DISCOM), BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL), launched an initiative called Solar City in the national capital. The initiative will increase solar rooftop installations in the city.

In December 2017, Mercom had reported that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tendered 8 MW of grid-connected rooftop and ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to be developed at various DMRC sites in the national capital. The bid-submission deadline is January 30, 2018.

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Delhi has cumulative solar installations totaling 55 MW, as of November 2017.

Image credit: Flickr