A housing estate run on solar power in Calcutta, India
Staff reporter, The Telegraph, Calcutta India /26 May 2007
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070526/asp/calcutta/story_7823724.asp
A housing estate “fully powered by solar energy”, a first in the country, is coming up in New Town, Rajarhat. Work on Rabi Rashmi, being developed by the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA), started in February last year and is likely to be ready by November.
“If there is no unexpected hitch, we hope to hand over the houses, all double-storeyed, to their owners by November,” said WBREDA director S.P. Gonchowdhury. Already, 25 houses, priced at Rs 43 lakh, have been sold.
“All electrical gadgets in the estate will be run on solar power,” the director added. Each household will generate power through a photo-voltaic system embedded in the roof and will have the option to sell power to the estate’s grid.
Each house will have two meters — one for recording the amount of power generated and the other for measuring the level of consumption. “If consumption is less than generation, the household can sell power to the grid. But if consumption exceeds generation, it will have to pay for drawing extra power from the grid,” Gonchowdhury pointed out.
Every house will have a water heater, rainwater harvesting system and a lily pool. There will also be a central swimming pool, where the water can be heated by solar power, and a community hall. The estate will have two vehicles to ferry residents to Salt Lake or other places nearby.
“If the project is successful, we will build a bigger one near the airport,” Gonchowdhury added. The Rajarhat project is being executed by Development Consultants Limited.