The major institutions of Tamilnadu are preparing themselves for massive roof generation so that their campuses could run on solar power and the surplus power could be exported to the grid. It is notable that a number of campuses have targeted to create internal power grids with capacities as high as 2 mega watts. These grids will be using the most modern computer control and will be able to coordinate the best mix of solar and wind energy with battery storage and the power in the grid.
For this, the “Solar Council of Tamilnadu (SCOT) will be the platform for the institutions to provide support to the Solar Mission of Tamilnadu. The Tamilnadu Institutions will be organising a series of four conferences under the title “Fast Forward with the Solar Mission”, the first of which will be conducted during 20-22 of January, 2014 at MTV Puram, Tirunelveli. This will be coinciding with the centenary celebrations of Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University), Agra which has emerged as the National Model in making a solar based campus. The focus is Tamilnadu Institutions and the response is immense. The Registration for the conference will continue till the conference date 20th January 2014, and the details can be obtained from the website www.dei.ac.in or by phone on 9442751121, 09319211217 and 8760998877. The strategy of the senior institutions which constitute SCOT will be to help in the capacity building of the institutions of Tamilnadu, to provide the needed knowledge support and HRD initiatives for the emergence of solar enterprises of world standard in India. This in turn will make the Solar Mission a thumping success close on heels with the phenomenal success of the Wind Mission.
The four conferences in future will be aiming to create hitherto non-existent disciplines like Solar Architecture and will help in making the Tamilnadu Institutions come to grips with the frontline R&D challenges that are plaguing the solar energy related industries. They will also address areas like concentrated solar power generation which are part of the Solar Mission’s agenda of Tamilnadu, but for which much ground work needs to be done.
It is hoped that such a series of world level consultations will result in a cooperative institutional support to be created for critical manufacturing industries related to solar devices and systems. The man power need in solar energy p0lanning, solar installation and maintenance, solar electronics, solar architecture related construction technology, etc., will have to be developed after defining specific targets for the same. In fact, as a pre-conference activity to the FFSM-2014, there will be a pilot training programme organised by DEI-Agra with the support from NCPRE-IIT Mumbai during 16-22 January 2014. The planning expertise and the skill upgradation exercises are expected to make an impact on the level of achievement of the target of the Solar Mission of Tamilnadu.
It is to be noted that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, New Delhi will be participating in the above programme along with the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research in Education (NCPRE) – IIT Mumbai.
The fees structure would Rs. 3000 for Academic and Research Institutions, Rs.5000 would be for Industry / Commercial organisations and Rs.1000 for Students / Research Scholars. Participants will have to arrange their own accommodation. On request the coordinators can help by providing contact details and tariffs of nearby hotels/lodges. Mr. Jeyaram Sing may be contacted for accommodation assistance on his cell phone number +91 94427 51121.
Dr.Prof.Karunakaran, Ex Vice Chancellor of Gandhigram Rural University addressed the members of the media.
