Leading Telugu daily Eenadu and other publications of the Ramoji Group will be powered by a 6.5 mw solar photovoltaic system to be set up by Photon Energy System Limited.

REC, a leading global provider of solar electricity solutions, will supply 25,720 solar panels aggregating to 6.5 MW to power a ground-mounted tracker system in Andhra Pradesh.

All the clean and green electricity generated will be used for the printing of the Eenadu, the largest circulated Telugu newspaper in Andhra Pradesh.

“Solar-generated power for captive consumption not only guards businesses against increasing electricity prices, it also provides good investment opportunity,” Shailendra Mohan Bebortha, Managing Director India, REC, said in a statement.

“We see self-consumption as a key business model for solar in India because it does not depend on incentive schemes, has no restrictions on system sizes, has low level of bureaucracy and makes industrial customers independent from fluctuations in energy prices,” he further stated.

“As a daily newspaper, we are dependent on a stable and reliable grid. To be more independent, we decided to invest in solar energy or more specifically, in captive solar consumption,” G. Rajendra Babu, General Manager, Eenadu, said.

“With increasing electricity costs on the one hand and the intermittent energy supply on the other, we can save a lot of money by using the energy produced by the solar installation itself and at the same time fulfil our corporate environmental policy,” Babu said.

Babu told Business Line, “The group will invest about Rs 50 crore on the project. This will benefit various printing units in the State.”

The solar PV system is being built by Photon Energy Systems Limited. The plant will be completed by September 2013.

“This is amongst the largest tracking plants to be set up and returns high plant load factor”, Gautham Nalamada, CEO, Photon, explained.

>rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in

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