The Indian Premier League in Bengaluru will be different. The lights will be solarpowered, making the city’s Chinnaswamy Stadium the world’s only solar-powered cricket ground.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) commissioned a 400-KW solar plant to power the entire stadium, except for the high-intensity floodlights, before the IPL season commences on April 8, 2015. Next year, the plan is to cover even the floodlights
“We are aiming to make this a green stadium,” KSCA honorary secretary Brijesh Patel told media.
“It makes economic sense for us to do this, and the additional power we generate will be offloaded to the grid.”
The `4.5 crore project, commissioned in February and inspired by Germany’s fully solar-powered Freiburg football stadium, is expected to reduce KSCA’s power consumption drastically. “In a matter of four years, the KSCA will get its returns,” said H Nandi, founder of city-based technology solutions fi rm MRO-TEK that’s implementing the project.”It would also be able to generate Rs 70-80 lakh revenue with the power it generates.”
MRO-TEK’s next target is the fl oodlights at the stadium. “Each fl oodlight consumes about 1 MW power, with each bulb carrying 1,000 watts of power. It can be replaced with 200 watt LED bulbs, which we plan to do experimentally without disturbing other floodlights.
With this, power consumption would drastically reduce,” Nandi said.
