BHEL to set up 5 MW solar plant at Ranipet

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd intends to set up a 5 MW solar power plant in its boiler auxiliary plant complex at Ranipet near Chennai.

The public sector power equipment major is setting up the plant for captive consumption of electricity the plant would produce, an official of BHEL said here today.

The official disclosed this while answering a question of K. Venugopal, Member, Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission, at an interaction organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry for spreading awareness on REC/RPO mechanism.

He wanted to know whether the solar plant would be eligible for both ‘renewable energy certificates’ and carbon credits. (It was clarified that it is.)

At Ranipet, BHEL has a sprawling complex of 163 acres. A 5 MW photo voltaic solar plant, based on crystalline silicon technology, would need about 25 acres. Land, therefore, is no issue for BHEL.

BHEL itself manufactures PV modules at its plant in Bangalore. It produces both mono and poly silicon-based cells and modules from wafers bought (mostly) from Japan.

With the main inputs — land and key equipment — available inhouse, BHEL believes it would be able to put up the plant in quick time, in order that it is able to reduce its dependence on diesel-based power that it uses, whenever grid power is not available — which is for 6-8 hours a day.

Under the extant rules of the REC mechanism, an entity that puts up a solar (or renewable energy based) plant and itself consumes the energy, it is still eligible to get trade-able renewable energy certificates.

Typically, a 1 MW solar PV plant could yield between 15-18 lakh units a year.

ramesh.m@thehindu.co.in

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