The Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) is aiming to become the first university in the country to be fully powered by green energy.
The KAU will ink a memorandum of understanding with the Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (Anert) for a ‘green power project’ on Wednesday, on the occasion of Kerala Piravi Day.
In the initial stage, the project envisages installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic power plants with a combined installed capacity of 600 kilowatts (kW) on KAU campuses. In this phase, the KAU expects an estimated annual energy yield of 7.68 lakh units annually.
The solar power plants will be installed atop buildings on the KAU main campus at Vellanikkara in Thrissur district, the College of Agriculture at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, the Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Tavanur, Malappuram, and the College of Agriculture at Padannakkad, Kasaragod.
In subsequent phases, the university plans to scale up the capacity to 10 MW, KAU Vice Chancellor B. Ashok told The Hindu .
Through this green initiative, the university expects to significantly slash its electricity bills and channel the savings for agricultural research. In future, the university also hopes to generate revenue by injecting surplus power into the grid. The project is also conceived in line with the State government’s target of transforming Kerala into a 100% renewable energy-dependent State by 2040 and net carbon neutral by 2050, the university said.
The KAU Registrar and ANERT director will sign in the MoU in the presence of Agriculture Minister P. Prasad, Revenue Minister K. Rajan, Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty and KAU Vice-Chancellor B. Ashok.
The collaboration with ANERT is planned on the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model.
