Vijayawada: ZP school generates its own power, thanks to alumni

Vijayawada: When many government schools are struggling to pay the power bills from the school grants, Zilla Parishad high school, Nidamunuru near Vijayawada which has 1,400 students and 50 teachers is enjoying free power.

This had become possible as the Alumni of the school had donated Rs 9 lakh for installation of 15 KW power plant. The school has installed a solar power plant and is able to meet the power requirements of over 40 classrooms, 200 tubelights and 200 fans.

Head Master B Suresh Kumar, 2019 Rashtrapati award winner, informed The Hans India that till recently, the school was getting Rs 50,000 a year from the Energy department. But, after the modernisation under Nadu Nedu, the power consumption has gone up and now they get around Rs 30,000 or so.

The State Government releases grants for schools between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh to each school every year depending on the student strength. The schools pay power bills ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 per month depending on the usage of lights, fans and computers.

He said installation of solar power plants in big schools will be beneficial to the students, teachers and the government.

The solar panels can be arranged on the rooftop of the high school buildings as it has been done in this school and power generated from the plant can be sent to the local energy department power grid.

Later, the Energy department supplies power to the school. This is the system being followed in this school, he added.