Curtailing costs: Capital’s rural schools to go solar

Oil companies exploring in region will fund project following SC orders.

ISLAMABAD:

More than 100 schools in the capital’s rural areas will be going solar in a bid to conserve electricity. The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration is collaborating with oil companies doing exploratory work in and around Islamabad and has initiated a project to install solar systems in rural schools, said Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali Ahmed.

The initiative was taken following a recent judgment by the Supreme Court in which oil and gas companies were directed to spend 10 per cent of royalties on areas where reserves are being explored, said Ahmed.



The ICT administration will work with two companies exploring oil reserves in the city’s outskirts — the state- run Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and MOL, a Hungarian oil and gas company. An ICT official said the 10 per cent royalty will be spent on schools in the rural areas as they are often the most neglected and more so because that is the area where the exploration is taking place.  “The basic objective is to save energy and to educate students and teachers about the usefulness of solar power” Ahmed said while talking to The Express Tribune. He further said the biggest advantage of the project is to curtail electricity costs in schools by powering fans and lights through solar energy.



Ahmed stated that the administration held meetings with officials of OGDCL and MOL in the first week of October and finalised the project. “More than a hundred schools are functional in the city’s rural areas and at first, ten schools would be covered by the end of November this year,” he said, adding that the practical use of solar power would help develop students’ interest in this field.

A senior teacher of the Islamabad Model School for Boys in Bhara Kahu appreciated the efforts of ICT administration and said it would be a great chance for students to learn about solar energy. “There is a dire need to launch such projects to not only educate students but to save electricity also” he added.

Besides ICT’s efforts to conserve energy, in September this year, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) also divulged alternate energy plans and proposed the electrification of 240 acres of the Fatima Jinnah Park through solar lights as well as powering Parliament House with solar energy.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2013.