Jamia Millia Islamia University has joined the long list of educational institutes that have turned to solar power to light up their classrooms. Recently, the university commissioned a 2.25 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project at its premises in the national capital.

The university will now get solar power at a tariff of ₹3.39 (~$0.04711)/kWh for the next 25 years. Jamia Milia Islamia was one of the many educational institutions to opt for solar to cut down its power costs in the recent times.

SunSource Energy Pvt. Ltd. has developed the solar PV project under RESCO mode. In June 2017, Jamia Millia Islamia had tendered the 2.25 MW (AC) solar project to be developed at its campus premises in Delhi.

Per SunSource Energy, Jamia Millia recently signed an agreement with SunSource Energy Pvt. Ltd. (which was approved by Solar Energy Corporation of India) to execute the project on a turnkey basis.

The installation process of solar panels over 50 rooftops of various buildings in the campus like central library, colleges, various departments of Jamia, and hostels has been complete. The university didn’t incur any cost for the set up and maintenance of the project as the expenses will be taken care of by SunSource Energy, with due support from SECI.

The entire execution of the project took place over a period of four months.

According to Kushagra Nandan, COO & co-founder of SunSource Energy, “With the installation of the 2.25 MW plant, Jamia Millia Islamia is expected to save over Rs. 1 crore annually apart from significantly contributing to the environment. The commencement of the project will greatly benefit students in training and carrier development as well.”

Adarsh Das, CEO & CO-Founder of SunSource Energy also stated that the company is actively in talks with several other academic institutions for implementation of similar initiatives.

Mercom recently reported that solar – not black coal – is beginning to power classrooms, dormitories and canteens of multitudes of educational institutions across the country. Solar power is heating water, helping run laboratories, shining auditoriums, cooling down canteens, assisting in administrative work and illuminating street lights on school grounds. Due to surging electricity bills and the desire to protect the environment, large number of educational institutions are turning to solar to meet their daily energy needs.

In July 2018, Amity University installed rooftop solar PV projects aggregating 1.8 MW across three campuses.

In May 2018, IIT Kharagpur had invited an expression of interest to develop 5.5 MW of solar projects.

Recently, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Uttarakhand’s Pantnagar town tendered a 5 MW grid-connected rooftop solar PV project.

Solar initiatives undertaken by the educational institutions are setting a good example for the rest of the country. Not only will this make the country adopt a sustainable and economical source of power, it will also help the overall growth trajectory of the rooftop solar sector. Mercom recently reported that India crossed the milestone of 25 GW of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in August 2018. Out of the installed capacity, rooftop solar accounts for merely 2.5 GW.