Famous places of worship in India are now shifting to solar powered energy for lighting and cooking purposes. Among some of the places undergoing change are Maharashtra’s Shirdi, Delhi’s Jama Masjid and Amritsar’s Golden temple.
One of the earliest places of worship to adopt alternative energy sources was the Brahma Kumari Spiritual trust in Mount Abu, which decided to go green, along with the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, with other places of worship following suite.
Among places that have formulated plans to rely on solar energy are the Jama Masjid, Golden Temple and the Jagnath Temple. The main benefit of using solar energy apart from a cleaner source of fuel, is that it cuts the cost of using traditional fuel like gas or diesel, it also provides for an uninterrupted electrical power supply. This comes in handy when cooking meals for a large number of devotees.
One of the many companies that have helped to install the solar panels in the places of worship is Flareum Technologies. The company installed solar panels in Tirupati, and according to spokesperson Shubi Gupta, they can now serve food to 20,000 devotees a day, which allows them to save Rs. 600,000 to 800,000.
The Indian government also has ambitious plans to turn to solar energy, with a National Solar Mission looking to generate 20,000 MW of solar energy by the year 2022.
