CDA to shift streetlights, offices to solar energy soon

Islamabad: The civic agency is giving serious thought to an ambitious proposal to shift all streetlights and its offices and buildings to solar energy which will not only improve energy saving but will also significantly reduce costs.

According to the details, the high officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) have evaluated the proposal in their recent meetings and now they are planning to move forward in this direction.

The high-ups of the civic agency will also review the Project-Concept (PC-I), prepared some years ago, to install solar panels atop tubewells and waterworks in various parts of the capital to produce 4.5 megawatt of electricity. The draft of the PC-I showed that the electricity produced through the solar system can be used for operating the waterworks and tubewells for the next twenty-five years. Within the first four years, it will meet the expenditure of Rs80 million to be incurred on the installation of the system.

An official has informed that if the proposal is approved then a consultant would be engaged to identify and select suitable places for the installation of clean and green energy equipment. It is pertinent to mention here that there are over 40,000 streetlights in Islamabad and CDA pays heavy monthly electricity bills despite having limited financial resources. He said “We have successfully completed a solar project in Fatima Jinnah Park where now people come in the evening without any fear of power loadshedding.

The 3,400 solar panels on a 2.5-hectare parcel of the 300-hectare (750-acre) park have been installed.” “The system provides constant power supply to this one of the key recreational attractions, bypassing the power shortfalls on the main grid. The visitors are no longer worried about walking in any area of the park even in the evening time,” he said.