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Anantapur solar thermal plant begins power generation
Anantapur solar thermal plant begins power generation, The plant, which would generate power for 330 days except during rainy season, will have 25 per cent plant load factor of the total installed capacity.
Hyderabad: South India’s first solar thermal power plant with an installed capacity of 50 MW commissioned its operations. The plant would supply 550 million units of power to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over a period of time. The Rs 848-crore project, spread across 600 acres at Nagalapuram village at Peddavadaguru mandal in Anantapur district, was taken up by the Megha Engineering Infrastructures Limited (MEIL).
The plant, which would generate power for 330 days except during rainy season, will have 25 per cent plant load factor of the total installed capacity.
Solar thermal power plants, technically termed as concentrating solar power (CSP), use mirrors to focus sun’s light energy and convert it into heat to create steam to drive a turbine that generates electrical power. The solar power plant, which does not create any industrial waste, would have facility to generate power by using gas and biomass during nights. The technology was provided by Spain, USA, Italy and Israel, while the parabolic troughs were purchased from Portugal.
“Though the CSP is now expensive than photovoltaic (PV) system, the new technology would push forward the promotion of new and renewable energy generation,” said MEIL's Associate Vice President B Uma Maheswara Reddy.
The project was awarded to MEIL as part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) by NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) in 2010. Under the agreement, the company would be paid Rs 11.30 per unit by the NVVN for 25 years under the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) entered in 2010. The plant was already connected to the national grid and power supply also commenced.
This plant would contribute 110 million units of solar power which will directly and indirectly helpful to AP and Telangana States as NTPC allocated 440 million units of thermal power from unallocated central quota to both States, he said. This supply was a part of the 550-million unit contract with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Stating that the company was keen to take part in the establishment of solar park in Anantapur with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW as a technical partner, the company official said the project provided employment to 45 skilled and 35 unskilled workers.
