Installation of a Solar Power System in the Society was a commitment made by Team Sandeepans in 2017. However, the cost of the project at that point of time was very high – around Rs 1.00 crore and the breakeven period for the project was 10 to12 years.
In the intervening period between 2017 and 2020, there was a drastic reduction in the cost of solar projects primarily due to fall in prices of the solar cells. The Management again started examining feasibility of the project and found it to be viable. The proposal to implement the project was approved by the GBM of 02 Feb 2020.
Consequent to approval by the GBM, an independent Board of Officers was constituted to seek quotations for the project, and carry out technical and financial evaluation of the same. The Board was required to undertake negotiations with various vendors and then to offer recommendations for selection of vendor and implementation of the project.
The Board was presided over by Col H S Ahuja (D1/401), with Col Rajiv Khanna (E14/202), Col Sudershan Bhardwaj (E10/601) and Lt Col Arvind Bali (E7/704) as members. The Board carried out extensive research, followed by obtaining of quotations from reputed vendors, including Tata Power and Kirloskar. Technical discussion and financial negotiation was carried out with each vendor. In their recommendations, the Board unanimously recommended M/s Hartek Solar to implement the project based on technical and financial considerations.
The project will be implemented in an “Online” mode, implying that electricity produced will be fed into the central grid of the society (less residential blocks), and any surplus electricity produced will be transferred into the UHBVN grid. Thus, the savings to the society will be in two ways – electricity consumed directly will result in corresponding reduction of electricity bill and the electricity fed into UHBVN grid will get credit of equal number of units, which will be offset against the remaining electricity bill.
The cost payable to the vendor for the 70 KW project, inclusive of GST comes to Rs 29.88 lakhs. Additionally, an expenditure of Rs 1.50 to 2.00 lakhs will have to be incurred on payments to UHBVN for meter/allied equipment and for site preparation. The project has a guaranteed life of 25 years, with 80% capacity after that. At the present rates of electricity, the expenditure incurred will be recovered through savings in 3.5 to 4 years. After that, there will be an annual saving of around Rs 10.00 lakhs for the remaining xxxx 20 plus years, which will increase with the inevitable upward revision of electricity charges by UHBVN.
Work on the project will start within the next few days. Execution is on turnkey basis with the vendor responsible to give us a completed project. Col H S Ahuja and Col Rajeev Khanna have kindly agreed to monitor implementation of the project.
The Management thanks all members for their unanimous support during the GBM of 02 Feb 2020, which has made it feasible to fructify the project. The management also places on record its appreciation for the dedicated efforts by the members of the Board of Officers in finalising a vendor, despite the hazards of the COVID-19 epidemic and their volunteering to continue to oversee the execution of the project till completion.
