TN: Government gives nod for first 60MW solar power plant

            A private non-conventional power producer has won the contract to set up a 60 MW solar power plant in Tamil Nadu. Welspun Energy, which got the confirmation letter from the government for setting up the plant, has shortlisted two districts in the state. The government in December last had invited bids from solar power producers to set up projects of as much as 1 gigawatt capacity.

The contract is for 25 years and the company will get 6.49 per unit as tariff in the first year. After this there will be a 5% increase in tariff each year.  Of the 540 crore required to set up the plant, the company plans to source about 400 crore from banks. The New Delhi-based firm expects to raise the funds in two months and commission the plant by March 2014.

Photovoltaic technology, which works on the principle of directly transforming solar energy to electrical energy, will be used at the plant. Due to multiple technological developments the conversion efficiency of sunlight into electricity has increased.  This is the first company to be given the approval for setting up a plant in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu, reeling under an acute power shortage this year, is desperate to increase the installed capacity and become a power surplus state. The AIADMK government, which released a vision 2023 document in March 2012, has plans to increase the installed solar power capacity to 5,000MW in the state by 2020 with an investment of 55,000 crore.