Tiruchi Corporation has begun the process of setting up a 7.4 MW of solar power plant at Panjapur on the Tiruchi-Madurai highway.
It is the second solar power plant to be established by the civic body within three years. The civic body erected a similar park in 2020 at Panjapur on a 13-acre expanse.
he Corporation has earmarked about 26 acres of land in a corner of the about 575 acres of land it owns at Panjapur for the new plant. A sum of ₹39 crore has been allotted to the project, official sources said.
Erection of solar panels has begun, a senior official of the Corporation told The Hindu. More than 20,000 ground-mounted panels will be erected at the site. The panels will be mounted with anchors to hold up the panels. The ground mount systems will hold the solar array in a fixed position and they will be erected in such a way to receive more sunlight.
All works of the solar energy park would be completed within two months. Once the park was commissioned, electricity would be linked with the grid of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco). The revenue generated from the project would be adjusted against the electricity bills of the Tiruchi Corporation, the official said.
The process of relocating the 2.4 MW solar power plant from a site close to the Tiruchi-Madurai highway had also been initiated simultaneously. All solar panels and the supporting foundations had been removed from the site, which was earmarked to set up the Integrated Bus Terminus (IBT) at Panjapur. They would be reinstalled at a site close to the 7.4 MW solar power plant.
A sum of ₹3.2 crore had been allotted for the removal and re-installation of the solar power panels. A Chennai-based firm had been chosen for the task. Once both projects were completed, the total installed capacity of solar power plants of the Corporation would go up to 9.8 MW.
