A leading Indian solar company, Tata Power, has successfully commissioned a 10MW solar power plant at Chitradurga, Karnataka, in India, for Jindal Aluminium Ltd (JAL). The project was completed in a timeframe of four months from the time the land became available and is the largest facility in Karnataka so far. It will produce over 18 million kilowatt hours of solar power annually, enough to supply the annual energy demand of over 70,000 Indian households.
JAL is one of India’s leading manufacturers of aluminium products and is also a strong advocate of clean energy in which it has a strong presence through its 12.4MW wind power project in Chitradurga. JAL awarded the project to Tata Power because of that company’s 24 years of strong technical expertise.
“Jindal Aluminium strongly believes in the role of renewable energy to solve the energy deficit in Karnataka and hence adopted solar as one of the solutions” said Ajay Aggarwal, Company Secretary, Jindal Aluminium Limited. “We are glad to partner with Tata Power Solar for setting up this grid connected solar power plant. The project was not only completed within a scheduled time frame but was also professionally executed with high quality. With the high energy performance ratio achieved in its initial phase of operation, our association with TPS would only grow stronger in our future projects.”
The facility consists of 48,000 multi-crystalline modules, each having an average output of 240Wp. According to a report by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Karnataka faced an energy deficit of 17.8 percent. However, it is mandated to purchase 0.25 percent of power from solar energy sources as part of the RPO targets fixed by state electricity regulators. JAL has now entered into a 25 year power purchase agreement with the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) to provide power at Rs 8.25 per unit flat for the whole tenure of 25 years.
Tata Power Solar has designed and built more than 70MW of grid-connected projects to date including notable projects at Mithapur, Bhuj and Charanka. The company also recently acquired a 50MW solar plant from NTPC in Rajgarh.
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