We are at a juncture the place efforts need to be made at decreasing carbon emissions which have elevated to alarming ranges.
In India alone, round 75% of electrical energy is produced by coal in thermal energy crops, which contribute over half of the overall CO2 emissions within the nation and round 2.5 per cent of worldwide GHG emissions.
These statistics underline the necessity to transfer in the direction of producing clear power. Realising this want, Zest Out of doors, a number one Out of doors Promoting company based mostly out of Mumbai has give you an modern concept of putting in photo voltaic panels with billboards, thereby producing electrical energy.
As entrepreneurs, promoting businesses have the higher hand at creating consciousness whereas inspiring change. And they also have give you a singular answer — photo voltaic billboards.
Mustafa Akolawala, the founding father of Zest Out of doors media, says, “In 2019, I began eager about putting in a couple of photo voltaic panels on my billboards only for powering the lights on them. That’s when it hit me — why not set up photo voltaic panels extensively which might generate sufficient electrical energy thereby contributing in the direction of decreasing the carbon footprint.”
The corporate has now put in round 17 such photo voltaic billboards throughout Mumbai metropolis and is supplying the electrical energy produced to Mumbai’s Western Railways.
Rajneesh Bahl, the enterprise head of Zest Out of doors, says, “That is the primary time in India the place billboards have such massive installations of photo voltaic panels to provide power. We even bought talked about within the India and Asia E-book of Information for this.”
“Any billboard that’s 30 sqft could have roughly 900 sqft of show space with a minimum of 1000 sqft of carpet space. So, I considered utilizing that house for putting in photo voltaic panels on it,” he says, including that the assumption that the panels need to be put in horizontally was improper. “We proved that even the vertically positioned photo voltaic panels can generate electrical energy whereas putting them horizontally,” Mustafa says.
Whereas implementing the concept, he says that it wasn’t a simple course of, as he needed to contemplate a number of technicalities relating to organising the photo voltaic billboards in a workable means. “Ranging from October 2021, it took us round 4 months to arrange all of the photo voltaic billboards and eventually launched it in February 2022,” he provides.
Talking of constructing a structurally sound innovation, he says, “We needed to contemplate the wind, in addition to the load and photo voltaic panels, are often heavy. So, I introduced on board a couple of IIT engineers to design the billboards, in such a means that it will probably accommodate the photo voltaic panels safely and thereby produce a big scale of power.”
The 33-year-old entrepreneur additionally had to make sure that the billboards appeared aesthetically pleasing as he needed to get manufacturers to promote on them.
After efficiently experimenting with a prototype, the innovation was carried out on a big scale and later bagged a contract to provide electrical energy for the railways. “At the moment now we have put in round 12,000 sqft of photo voltaic panels on our billboards throughout Mumbai in 17 totally different places and the electrical energy generated is being provided to the Western Railways, freed from value,” he says including that every one these billboards are positioned close to the railway tracks and stations at Cuffe Parade, Mahalakshmi, Carter Street, Bandra RoB, Andheri and Oshiwara.
“This initiative will assist forestall carbon emissions of about 184 metric tonnes which is equal to planting round 3,047 bushes,” he claims, including, “We have now a billboard at Bandra ROB, 30×30 sq ft in measurement, which has round 40 photo voltaic panels on its again put in in a slope design.”
A media consultant of the Western Railways says, “The Railways is in a contract with Zest outdoor promoting company and their photo voltaic billboards have been put in at 17 totally different places throughout the Western suburbs, promising provide of inexperienced power to the Western railways, freed from value.”
Deepak Mulchandani, Senior Divisional Business Supervisor, Wester Railways, provides, “The set up course of is completed they usually have began functioning in a lot of the places. The electrical energy produced from these photo voltaic billboards is being straight transferred to the feeder factors of the railways in sure places that are near the railway stations. In places removed from the stations, the electrical energy is being transferred to the railway colonies. So, by implementing the idea of reverse metering, the meters within the colonies might be reversed backwards, decreasing their energy consumption.”
The photo voltaic panels put in on the billboards have a shelf-life of 20 years, says Mustafa, including, “So, presently we’re focusing on 2 lakh items every year and when it comes to the contract will probably be 12 lakh items for five years. However with a life span of 20 years, the photo voltaic panels are able to producing round 20 lakh items of power.”
Rajneesh provides, “We’re getting excellent responses and have been getting enquiries from totally different manufacturers on this regard. That is the primary time a hoarding which is simply put in for promoting is serving a number of functions.”
Speaking in regards to the idea of carbon credit, he says, “After we produce inexperienced power, we assist cut back the CO2 emissions in the course of the burning of coal whereas producing electrical energy. So, that makes us eligible for incomes carbon credit. However these carbon credit need to be formalised and we’re presently within the technique of that. As soon as it’s performed we will switch the good thing about carbon credit score factors to the consumer as they’re not directly contributing to it.”
After setting a groundbreaking instance and taking steps in the direction of a greener future, the outside promoting firm now goals to increase their inexperienced mission to totally different elements of the nation.
Sources:
Ministry of Coal
(Edited by Yoshita Rao)