HIDCO to run air conditioners using solar power at Nazrul Tirtha

Kolkata: The West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) will soon run air conditioning machines on solar power in a portion of Nazrul Tirtha.

Some of the ACs installed in the west wing of the second and third floor of the auditorium will be run using solar energy.

The solar installation will be put up by Kawasaki Rikuso Transportation Co (KRT) that has recently been instrumental in setting up a solar-powered temperature-controlled warehouse at Tapasi Malik Krishak Bazaar in Singur.

On January 21, state Information Technology and Electronics minister Amit Mitra had inaugurated the facility.

"We have already handed over the autoCAD drawings of the floor areas. Information on the existing central AC modules, their times of operation, roof space and balcony space available for installing the solar panels were discussed so create the designs," a senior official of Hidco said.

Keiichi Higuchi, president of Kawasaki Rikuso Transportation Co, and other officials inspected of a portion of Nazrul Tirtha and then recently held a meeting with senior Hidco officials.

"Maintenance-free conventional batteries with periodic recycling would be provided. The idea is to move huge AC power requirement in the city space to renewable energy sources so as to move towards a greener earth. A project report would be prepared within a month," the official said.

It may be mentioned that Hidco chairman Debashis Sen had paid a visit to the warehouse in Singur developed by KRT in February and was impressed with its infrastructure.

There are two rooms for keeping fruits and vegetables fresh and the temperature inside the two rooms hover around 19 degree Celsius, with wall-mounted digital thermometers registering the temperature. No electric power from the grid is being used.

Interestingly, the facilities put up at the warehouse also include a magnetic rat-trap to ensure that rodents do not feast on the fruits and vegetables stored in the warehouse, where they remain fresh for six to seven days.

The KRT facility at Singur is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency.

If the proposed solar model at Nazrul Tirtha works well the state Information Technology and Electronics department may use this model to run the air-conditioning system of some community halls and offices maintained by the state government in New Town.