Energy

In India, almost 69% of the GHG emissions are contributed by the energy sector. The urban demand for electricity has been growing rapidly and local governments should strive to meet this demand with cleaner and often cheaper renewable sources of electricity generation. The CapaCITIES project is supporting Indian cities to implement Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy measures in the energy sector as climate change mitigation actions. The project is also supporting these cities to mainstream climate actions into Urban Planning and Service Delivery of local governments:

Installed pilot Solar PV systems in Rajkot’s social housing building and Aji Water Treatment Plant to demonstrate effective use of rooftop space available with the municipal corporation.
A feasibility study was undertaken in Rajkot to develop a bankable project for captive use by municipal facilities aimed at reducing GHG emissions and energy cost for municipal corporations.
In Phase 2, the project is engaging with Rajkot city and state level authorities to implement the captive solar PV bankable project in Rajkot and to scale it up to other cities.

Implementation Projects

Quick-win / Co-financing Projects

Renewable Energy Solar PV for Social Housing in Rajkot

Rajkot Municipal Corporation had planned to construct 10000 affordable housing units by 2020. CapaCITIES project created a case for utilizing renewable energy for common utilities in all social housing projects.

This was done by deploying a pilot Solar PV system of 31.5 kWp in the Krantiveer Khudiram Bose Township. This created an annual savings of roughly 45,360 units of electricity, contributing to a GHG emission reduction potential of 37 tCO2e.

145kWp Solar PV System in Aji Water Treatment Plant

Rajkot: CapaCITIES project installed 145 kWp solar PV systems to power one of the five water treatment plants under the Rajkot Municipal Corporation as a demonstration project to utilize roof space available with the municipal corporation infrastructure facilities.

This system contributed to over 50% of the allowed PV capacity at the plant and saved 211,700 kWh per year (~18% of existing electricity consumption was fulfilled by solar installation), contributing to a GHG emission reduction of about 174 tCO2e.

Bankable Projects

Feasibility Study to Set up 4MW Solar Power Project

Rajkot: Under the CapaCITIES project, a feasibility study was conducted to set up a new ground based solar power project of 4 MWp capacity at the existing Solid Waste Management facility in Nakarawadi.

The facility was found to have a shadow free available area of 24,345 sq mt and a connected load of 60 HP. An illustrative revenue model based on the feasibility study was developed to assess the bankability of the project which revealed that the project was prima-facie bankable to be tendered on Independent Power Producers basis.

Feasibility Study to Set up 23 MW Solar Power Project

Rajkot: In order to utilize the ground and rooftop space available with the Rajkot Municipal Corporation for solar power projects, a feasibility study was conducted as part of the CapaCITIES project at Sewage (Anandpar, Madhapar) and Water Treatment Plants (Ribeda, Raiyadhar) of Rajkot.

The study found the facilities to have the potential for a combined capacity of ~23 MWp of ground and roof top mounted solar pv system. The facility was found to have a shadow free available area of 24,345 sq mt and a connected load of 60 HP. An illustrative revenue model based on the feasibility study was developed to assess the bankability of the project which revealed that the project was prima-facie bankable to be tendered on Independent Power Producers basis.

Development of a Captive Solar Power Plant

Rajkot: The average electricity consumption of Rajkot over the last three years is more than~60 million kwh. The project is supporting development of a 10MW solar plant for captive use of Rajkot Municipal Corporation.

By displacing conventional energy consumption of Rajkot city, the project is expected to reduce ~0.03 mio tco2e and result in significant cost savings for RMC.