NIT Silchar will soon become a solar-powered campus.

On the sidelines of a three-day workshop on solar energy and its applications, the director of NIT Silchar, N.V. Deshpande, said that the Union ministry of new and renewable energy had sanctioned Rs 2.73 crore for a 100KW solar plant and the new LTD building of the institute would be supplied with 10KW solar power within three days.

The institute plans to achieve 1MW of solar energy within next five years, the director added.

“The day is inching closer when NIT Silchar would become a solar-powered campus. Besides the 1,500 students, people living in the two villages, Madhutilla and Babutilla, will also enjoy the facility,” Deshpande said.

The director also said an engineering company, Central Electronics Limited, which is one of the 50 channel partners of the ministry of new and renewable energy, was providing the solar energy set for the campus.

The workshop, which began today, has been organised by the department of mechanical engineering and department of electrical engineering, under the technical education quality improvement programme (TEQIP) Phase II.

Moreover, Deshpande said a team of experts from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Mumbai, would visit the campus in mid-April to work with the students to generate power from kitchen food wastes.

A clean energy unit from Germany will be also installed on the campus, he said.