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The power to conserve
The four-floored building has eight 2BHK flats and it runs solely on 12KW electricity accumulated by the solar panels, which are placed on the rooftop.
Pride Supra Homes in Hyderabad, which is promoted by natives of Krishna district, is India’s first solar powered apartment-complex
Picture this… a 2BHK flat in Hitec City, which gets electricity bill of only Rs 25 per month. Unbelievable, right? One might think that the electricity metre box must be faulty or tampered; but that’s not the case. In an age of power crisis and frequent electricity cuts, the flats at Pride Supra Homes in Kondapur have never faced power outage since its inception in 2013 and receive electricity bill of only Rs 25 per month.
Meet Chaitanya Rayapudi, the 30-year-old software professional-cum-builder, who is the brains behind India’s first solar powered flats. Chaitanya hails from Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh; he is a hardcore nature conservationist and has a fascination for solar energy. The four-floored building has eight 2BHK flats and it runs solely on 12KW electricity accumulated by the solar panels, which are placed on the rooftop.
“When my father retired from his job, we wanted to buy our own house. I searched for a flat in many areas but, I was not satisfied. Later, I acquired knowledge in construction and then I got an idea to build an eco-friendly apartment, which runs solely on electricity received from solar panels. I did a lot of research and met many people for it but no one encouraged me and they said that it will not work out.
However, after five months, Anu Solar, a Bengaluru-based company came forward to conceptualise my idea into reality. We did a market survey through 425 builders across India before we commenced the construction,” Chaitanya informed. The cost for each flat for the solar project is up to Rs 2.75 lakh. Apart from solar energy, the building used Autoclaved Aerated Concrete bricks, energy saving fans and energy efficient ACs.
“Today people talk about global warming and they do nothing to save the Earth. We started these flats to conserve nature. We invested Rs 22 lakh in the system, which includes 52 solar panels, fixed on the roof. My idea is to provide an uninterrupted power supply 24*7, 365 days in a year,” he adds.
To build a complete nature-friendly building Chaitanya used Unplasticised Polyvinyl Chloride (UPVC) instead of wood for doors and windows. The building roofs are designed to collect rainwater and they redirect it to rain harvesting pits, which has a depth of 100 ft and it helps in efficient and faster regeneration of groundwater.
This is only but a beginning for Chaitanya’s stint in saving mother Earth. His upcoming project, Supra Solar Studios at Pragati Nagar in Kukatpally is a five-storeyed building with 50 studio apartments that will be fully furnished with solar power as the primary electricity source. “It is the first studio apartment in Telangana and AP and is expected to complete in March 2017,” he shares.
By V Sateesh Reddy
