Encouraged by the success of its four solar plants, Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) is planning to enter the solar power sector in a big way with a proposal to set up grid-connected plants with a total capacity of 50 MW.
“We are planning to set up plants with a capacity of 50 MW in the next two years under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. We are waiting for the fresh guidelines under the mission to make a formal proposal,” KPCL MD M. Maheshwar Rao told The Hindu .
“We want to set up a 15 MW plant this year,” he said. The KPCL wants to locate the proposed plant in north Karnataka as the region has high potential for solar energy. Also, it has huge stretches of land there. The 15 MW plant will need about 75 acres.
The KPCL has already set up three grid-connected solar power plants with a capacity of 3 MW each and another with a capacity of 5 MW. Also, a 10 MW plant, the State’s biggest solar plant, is to be commissioned this month.
It has also managed to bring down the cost of implementing solar projects, from Rs. 19 crore a MW in 2010 to about Rs. 7 crore today.