With an aim to reduce carbon footprint and electricity bills, Indian energy expert SP Gon Chowdhury has devised what he claims to be India’s first automated carbon-neutral solar lighting system. Chowdhury also claim to have created world’s first carbon neutrality manager.
This solar lighting has an advantage over traditional models that use batteries to store power generated by solar-panels. The new lights are battery-less. Rather, the system is directly connected to the power grid that features an automatic control system. The system will switch on the lights after evening and switch off in the morning. The generated electricity is stored in electricity meter instead of a battery with the help of a small converter.
With decreasing requirement for lighting after midnight, the lights will automatically dim to save energy.
As compared to existing solar lighting models that use batteries, the new system is better and is completely carbon-neutral because it produces as much energy as much it requires. Also, it eliminated issues related to capacity of traditional batteries that can store only 75W, less than required. The battery-less system is capable of generating 300 W and there is no expenditure on maintenance of battery.
This makes it a perfect replacement for common solar lighting in parks and along highways. It can save fat amount of money on bills for the municipality.
Earlier, new lighting system was installed at Deshapriya Park for trials. Initially, 50 solar electric posts having 180 watt solar panels with LED lights were installed at the park. It brought a drastic cut on electricity bill. Earlier, the bill used to be over Rs. 17,000 per month, and after installation of solar lights, it was reduced to Rs. 2000 per month, which means 95% saving on electricity bill.
After this successful trial, now the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is extending it to 28 other parks including some prominent ones like Md Ali Park, College Square, Maddox square and Subhas Sarobar Park.
The Kolkata MC is in talks with a private firm for the replacement of 3,000 streetlights into carbon neutral solar lights.
The step also compliment India’s ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) under which the nation has announced a target of attaining 100 GW solar energy generation capacity by 2022.
The systems are so effective that the Delhi MC is also seeking the same technology. There is no doubt that the battery-less solar lighting can be more successful in Indian cities. Also, it’ll solve another trouble for the government. In cities like Shimla in HP, thieves steal batteries from installed solar lighting systems. If there is no battery, there is no need to worry about thieves.
Image Credit: High Ground Energy