LAHORE, Oct 13: All searchlights along the jogging track in the Racecourse Park will be shifted from Wapda network to the solar energy system.

The idea is being initiated by the environment protection department as the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), which manages the park, has agreed to coordinate in the experiment.

A final decision on the project will be taken by the officials next week.

The environment department, it is learnt, has proposed carrying out a joint collaborative research project with the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, for design of the local solar energy harvesting system through this initiative.

The PHA has installed 100 searchlights on the 2.75km jogging track.

Environment officials say shifting of searchlights to the solar system as a model facility and establishment of an information centre for the promotion of alternative energy sources will cost Rs20 million, and duration of the project is stated to be 24 months.

Rapid population growth and industrialisation have greatly increased the energy demands largely depending on hydle power and imported fossil fuels which not only drained the national economy but also affecting ecology of the country, the officials argue, and thus necessitating a need for looking out alternative energy sources.

So far there are three ways for use of solar energy:

Solar thermal collectors use solar radiation falling on them to heat tap water; photovoltaic modules convert solar radiation directly into electricity; and solar thermal power plants use solar heat by concentrating solar radiation (for instance, using mirrors focused upon a solar power tower or by means of parabolic troughs) and then converting the energy of the medium thus heated to a turbine or to a stirling engine.