Gujarat's Modhera becomes India's first 'net-zero' energy community

As a result of Project Suryagram (Sun Village), Gujarat's Modhera has emerged as India's first 24X7 solar-powered village. It is also a 'net-zero' energy community, meeting 100 per cent of its energy requirements using on-site solar power. 

Under the project, 1 kilowatt (KW) solar panels have been installed on the roof of almost every house in Modhera in two phases. 

The work was initiated in February. The solarisation of the Modhera area was completed in August, according to a report by Financial Express (FE). Currently, nearly 1,380 households in the Modhera area have solar rooftop systems, including 1,177 at Modhera, 101 in Sujjanpura and 105 in Samlanpura villages.

Apart from panels, the Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd (GPCL) has set up a 6 MW ground-mounted solar power plant with a 15 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Sujjanpura near Modhera. 

"Since last four months, our electricity bills have gone down drastically. Before the installation of rooftop solar systems our bimonthly electricity bills used to remain at Rs 3000. Since July we have been paying below Rs 1000," a resident of Modhera, Deepsinh Vaghela, told FE. 

Panels have also been installed over government buildings like ST Depot, police stations, Primary Health centres etc. It has brought down electricity bills drastically. 

"Solar rooftop has been installed in our school. We have 10 smart classes, 10 projectors and 22 rooms with four fans tube lights in each room. We used to pay more than Rs 5000 electricity bill before the installation of solar panels. In the last six months there have been zero electricity bills and we have nearly Rs 17,000 credit on our electricity bill," Mahendrabhai Nai, principal, of Modhera Anupam School said. 

In any case, if the power from the project does not suffice for the needs of the village, the requirement is met by BESS.