The company has installed 115 solar lamps as street lights and supplies around 21,000 litres of hot water daily to the apartments from solar water heater.

Mr Ram Shankar Venkataraman, CEO, Shriram Properties Ltd, Coimbatore, says the company has fixed a limit of 75 litres of hot water a day for each apartment and the supply is through pipes to a bathroom in each unit.

Explaining the cost-benefit ratio, he said the initial investment in installing water heaters and street lights was huge but the savings were considerable for the residents.

For instance, it is estimated that one conventional water heater of 25 litres consumes about 2.25 units of power daily, costing about Rs 8.10. In two months, the power cost would be about Rs 480 for a flat, constituting about 40-45 per cent of the power charges of nearly Rs 1,080 a month.

But for the builder the costs of installing the water heaters, pipes to supply hot water and others work out to Rs 10 a sq.ft as capex. The cost-per-apartment works out to about Rs 13,000 for one solar geyser whereas the recurring cost is zero.

Mr Ram said 115 solar street lights, each of 11 watt capacity, have also been installed around the residential complex.

Traditional street light units cost about Rs 2,500 each, one unit of solar-powered street light costs Rs 30,000-35,000. This adds about Rs 10 a sq.ft to the construction cost.

Author:Zhejiang Shentai SolarEnergy Co., Ltd.
Website:http://www.suntasksolar.com/ 
Main Product:solar water heater solar collector