IIT Delhi Reduces Carbon Footprints By 50%
This was made possible by the virtue of the recent bilateral power purchase contract made by IIT Delhi with a hydro power generator in the state of Himachal Pradesh for 2 MW power. “Open access provisions in Electricity Act 2003 have made it possible to buy power from the generators of their choice through bilateral contracts or energy exchange, for large consumers of power like IIT Delhi. IIT Delhi made use of these provisions to its advantage by involving PTC India Ltd...to identify a source of ‘green’ power." Buying 2 MW of power exclusively from ‘green’ generator is equivalent to off-setting about 14000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, IIT Delhi said. IIT Delhi already has 2.7 MWp (Megawatts-peak) of rooftop solar installation and with the addition of 2MW of hydro power, “IIT Delhi’s power purchase portfolio has 4.7 MW of green power as against contract demand of around 8.5 MW with the local utility that essentially serves academic and hostel areas," the IIT said. “Availing green power through open access is an important initiative that we have taken in recent times to share our responsibility towards clean climate. Through proactive actions, we are making a good progress in …making our campus sustainable and green. The Institute has plans to expand the green power purchase portfolio in the near future," said V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi. Abhijit Abhyankar, associate dean (Infrastructure) and a professor of electrical engineering at the IIT said the institute would do “substantial cost saving with green power procurement". Availing open access to purchase green power entailed adopting a procedure laid down by state and central electricity regulatory commissions for obtaining approvals from local utility, various load dispatch centres, installing open access meters, etc. The IIT said to become greener it has also designed solutions to help manage solid waste generated in the campus and has also set up 1.5 million litre per day sewage treatment plant to take care of the horticulture needs of the campus.