Guntakal Railway Station installs Ulta Chaata to Harvest Rainwater and Solar Power

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South Central Railway (SCR) has taken a step ahead towards sustainability by installing ‘Ulta Chaata’ canopies for harvesting rainwater and harnessing solar power at Guntakal Railway Station in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

There are six such Ulta Chaata canopies in total installed close to the railway station. These canopies are a type of inverted umbrellas-shaped structures, which have solar panels fitted on top and water collecting chambers at the bottom. Each of these canopies have a size of 5 x 5 meters, weigh around 120 kilos, and stores up to 60,000 liters of water.

They can utilize renewable energy to harness solar power and offer facilities like seating, mobile charging and lighting. LED lamps of 40 watts capacity are installed inside each canopy, which comprise a lithium-ion battery, automated sensor controls and a monocrystalline flexible solar panel. These are lightweight panels that can charge solar-compatible batteries used in power devices, appliances and some times in emergencies.

SCR has spent near around INR14 lakhs on this project. The inverted umbrella (ulta chaata) is an innovation of a green technology startup, ThinkPhi Sustainable Lab Pvt Ltd which is founded by Samit Choksi and his wife, Priya Vakil Choksi.

According to SCR, Guntakal is the first railway station in India with this unique idea of fixing the inverted canopies which collects the water during monsoon and in dry seasons it produce electricity from solar panels. Under the ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat’, SCR is taking numerous steps, from banning plastic, installing plastic bottle crushers, converting wet waste into manure to introducing vertical gardens.

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Date: 08.08.2019 | Source: The Better India

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