EESL to spend Rs 800 cr to install solar rooftops in 5,000 state-owned buildings in Maharashtra in next two years

Mumbai: Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) plans to install an aggregate 200 MW of grid-connected solar rooftop across 5,000 state-owned buildings in Maharashtra in the next two years at a cost of around Rs 800 crore. State-run EESL, which is a joint venture of four other PSUs including NTPC, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, and PowerGrid Corporation, will be installing rooftop solar on RESCO model in phased manner. “Initially, we will be installing rooftop capacities across 2,000 buildings and we estimate a cost of Rs 450 crore. This we plan to complete by end of this year,” EESL Maharashtra Regional Manager Deepak Kokate told PTI here. He further said the entire cost will be borne by EESL and state will have to pay only for the power generated. EESL is already retrofitting government buildings in Maharashtra with energy efficient appliances, investing Rs 325 crore to enable them to achieve 39 per cent savings in annual energy costs. [caption id=“attachment_4494601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Under this program, the company has already retrofitted 2,000 buildings with energy efficient appliances in the state and has successfully installed 1.75 lakh LED lights, 1.25 lakh energy efficient fans and 3,200 super- efficient ACs. “We will soon have 3,000 more buildings retrofitted by the end of the year. By the same time, we will complete rooftop solar installation on those 2,000 buildings and once the internal energy efficient work on 3,000 buildings is completed, we will install rooftop solar on them. This will take almost two years to complete,” Kokate added. He further said the solar rooftop solutions will significantly reduce the lifetime energy costs of these buildings, as they will avail electricity at lower tariffs that will be determined at levelized rates over the next 25 years. For the retrofitting in 3,000 buildings, EESL will replace about 7,000 energy efficient ACs, 11 lakh LEDs bulbs, six lakh energy efficient ceiling fans and also replace 14,000 streetlights in the state, contributing to energy savings of 100 million units per year. Kokate further said with the help of the retrofitting program, Maharashtra has so far saved nearly 20.5 million units of electricity worth Rs 20 crore per year, avoiding 18,500 tonnes of CO2 emission to the atmosphere.