A 10-MW solar photo voltaic power plant was commissioned on Monday in Neyveli making it the first renewable energy project of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). The plant located on 54 acres was installed by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited at a cost of Rs.74.60 crore.
The plant comprises 48,000 Solar Photo Voltaic Modules with each having a power generating capacity of 240 MW.
The plant would evacuate power through the 33-KV power station located in Neyveli.
B. Surender Mohan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NLC, said the plant had already started generating power and the projected generation in the first year was 164 lakh units.
The plant had so far generated 8.65 lakh units of electricity during the trial-run period, and the entire power would be fed to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco). The NLC was also implementing a 51-MW wind power plant at Kazhuneerkulam in Tirunelveli district.
Of the 35 wind turbines, around nine turbines with a capacity of 1.5 MW had been commissioned and the rest would be commissioned this year. The entire power generated from the wind power plant would also be fed to the Tangedco.
Mr. Mohan said the NLC planned to establish 4000-MW solar power plants in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Telangana and Rajasthan in line with the National Solar Mission announced by the Centre.
The projects would be implemented based on the land availability and the techno economic viability of the project.
Considering the importance of solar energy, the NLC planned to increase its capacity addition in solar energy.
To start with, the NLC had identified lands in the township for installation of 130-MW solar power project.
The NLC also planned to establish a 25-MW solar power project in Barsingar, Rajasthan, at a cost of Rs.167.29 crore.
Tangedco was one of the major beneficiaries getting about 45 to 50 per cent of the total power generated by the NLC. The Tangedco had come forward to buy solar energy from NLC at Rs.7.01 per unit, Mr. Mohan said.
Sarat Kumar Acharya, Director (Human Resources), Rakkesh Kumar, S. Boopathy, V. Thangapandian, Directors of NLC, participated.
