The Solar Power Plant Centre at the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) campus in Madurai was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin on Tuesday, January 24. 

Speaking to TNIE, Professor B Ashok from the School of Biotechnology of MKU said that his colleague Prof P Varalakshmi and he had initiated the project which was executed by the Rural Electrification Corporation's CSR fund of Rs 7.25 crore. 

"Under the guidance of the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), we arranged for one megawatt producing solar panel in six acres of land in MKU campus. From this plant, around one megawatt of power will be generated on a daily basis. It will be transmitted to TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited) substation at Uranganpatti. It will be utilised for the varsity's power consumption and save an amount of Rs 15 lakh for this varsity. Apart from this, it would be helpful for the villages in and around the varsity to get uninterrupted power supply," he said.

"All state universities need to take up such innovative initiatives," said the Chief Minister, as per The Times of India report.