The Union Minitry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) will part-finance a pilot project to run battery-operated buses in and around the Salt Lake area near the city from next month.Informed sources said that while 50 per cent of the funding was being done by the MNES, the balance of the Rs. 20-lakh project would be shared by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board and West Begal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) - the State's nodal agency for promoting and catalysing the use of non-conventional energy sources.