Six firms express interest in solar power generation
Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency will invite proposals soon Officials will visit Germany and Spain where large solar photovoltaic power plants have come up Programme to encourage generation of grid quality power from megawatt-sized solar plants CHENNAI: Half-a-dozen companies have expressed interest in implementing the recently unveiled national programme on solar power generation in the State. Noting that this is only in the formative stage, a senior official says that soon the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency will formally invite proposals from these companies, and specific projects will be formulated at the end of this process. Also, as part of firming up its plan to promote solar energy, the State Government has decided to depute to Germany and Spain the Agency's two senior officers, including its chairman-cum-managing director Mohan Verghese Chunkath. The two nations have been chosen since most of the recently installed large solar photovoltaic power plants have come up there. Distribution losses An official document of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy states that in view of the large potential of solar energy in the country, the Ministry has launched a demonstration programme to encourage grid quality power generation from megawatt-sized solar power plants. Besides capacity addition, the proposed plants could help to tackle peak load operations and reduce distribution losses caused by voltage drops in several regions. Under this programme, registered companies, as project developers, would be encouraged to set up solar power projects on a build, own and operate basis. The Ministry will provide generation-based incentive up to Rs. 12 a unit for solar photovoltaic and Rs. 10 a unit for solar thermal power fed to the grid. Proposals from each developer with a maximum aggregate capacity of 5 megawatt (MW) will be considered. Totally, the Government will provide incentive for installation of 50-MW solar power projects. The projects with an aggregate capacity of 10 MW in a State will be considered for support. However, preference will be given to the projects from the States where the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions have announced, or about to announce, tariff for solar power. The Centre will also provide an incentive of 10 paise a unit to power utilities and one- time incentive of Rs. 2 lakh per MW to the State nodal agencies for their assistance in implementation and monitoring of the projects. The generation-based incentives announced by the Centre are over and above the tariff that will be determined by the commissions and should not go into the calculation of tariff, the document says.