Leading from the front - APJ at it again

A five MW Solar Energy Power Plant will be set up at an approximate cost of Rs 100 crore at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

This was disclosed by President A P J Abdul Kalam while inaugurating the "Global Conference on India R & D 2005 - The World's Knowledge Hub of the Future.

''We are working on a project for creation of a five MW solar energy plant for meeting the power needs of the Rashtrapati Bhavan,''he said.

Dr Kalam said though the capital cost of the project might work out to Rs 100 crore, the cost could be brought down by 60 per cent if high efficiency photovoltaic cells were available.

In this context, he asked the scientists to develop solar projects which are cost and space effective.

Presently, silicon photovoltaic cells work with an efficiency of 13 per cent to 15 per cent, whereas research has already shown promise of achieving 50 per cent efficiency in solar photo voltaic cells with CNT and silicon bonding.

Educational institutions, R and D organisations and the industry should mount a mission mode programme to realise quantity production and marketing of the high efficiency CNT based photovoltaic cell within the next three years," Dr Kalam said, adding that : "in notional terms there will be a minimum saving of Rs 200,000 crore in capital cost for establishing 50,000 MW of solar power out of 100,000 MW of power from renewable energy sources required for realising energy independence in the country. " The President said the country should achieve energy independence within the next 25 years (by 2030).