Chinnaswamy is first cricket stadium with rooftop solar plant

The Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru is the first cricket venue in the country to have a rooftop solar power plant.

The roof top installation by the Karnataka State Cricket Association is a novel initiative executed for the first time at any stadium in the country and, probably, also the first cricket stadium in the world to have such facility, the Karnataka State Cricket Association said.

“KSCA has installed a 400 KW rooftop solar power plant at M Chinnaswamy stadium. We appointed RenXSol Ecotech as solar consultants to KSCA for design, engineering and project management activity for this challenging project," KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel said.

The plant is designed to generate 5.90 lakh units per year, equivalent to powering 200 AEH (All Electric Homes) households using three KW power annually and also saving about 600 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

"KSCA has set an example as a stadium able to use its space for helping protect the environment for our children in the years to come," the ex-Test cricketer added.

The power generated will be sent to BESCOM (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company) Grid under the Net Metering policy, under which KSCA would pay for only the net of power generated and power consumed. In case of excess solar power if given to BESCOM, then the utility will pay KSCA at Rs 9.56 per unit for such power.

Inaugurating the plant last night, Karnataka Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said the state government will permit construction of an extra floor as an incentive if people install solar power panels on the rooftops of their houses.

Image: The M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru