New Delhi: The Capital city took a leap towards a clean and green lifestyle as the Chief Minister, Smt. Sheila Dikshit, inaugurated a one-mega watt solar power plant put up by North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL), a joint venture of Tata Power with Delhi Government. The Chief Secretary, Delhi, Mr Rakesh Mehta, and the Secretary, Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Mr Deepak Gupta, were present on the occasion besides the area MLAs, Mr Hari Shankar Gupta and Mr Anil Bhardwaj along with government officials, local residents and the media.
Mr Adi Engineer, Chairman of NDPL, Mr Prasad Menon, Managing Director of Tata Power, and Mr Sunil Wadhwa, Managing Director of NDPL, received the dignitaries and showed them the plant which is located at the Keshavpuram (Lawrence Road) site of NDPL. The plant has been installed by Tata BP Solar and consists of more than 5500 solar photovoltaic panels made of crystalline silicon which will absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity which will be directly fed into the main grid line of NDPL. The power thus generated is clean and green since there is no pollution of any kind in generating solar photovoltaic (PV) power. The panels are designed to work diligently and silently for 25 years. Since there are no moving parts and the only fuel needed is sunlight, the panels (or modules) need no maintenance except for dusting and cleaning. The DC power generated by the solar panels is converted into AC by inverters and fed into the power grid via transformers. This one-mega watt plant is designed to produce 1.58 million units of electricity annually, sufficient to light more than 1000 homes.
The Chief Minister welcomed the initiative from NDPL stated that this is a small but very significant step towards adopting a low carbon lifestyle to mitigate climate change. She expressed satisfaction at the pioneering feat of NDPL, which has been a leader in implementing electricity reforms in the country and expressed the hope that this initiative would be emulated by other companies and utilities.
The MNRE Secretary, Mr Deepak Gupta, said, that the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which has set out a target of generating 20000 MW of solar power by 2022 provides the overarching policy framework within which initiatives like the NDPL-Tata BP plant will be supported. The Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi, Mr Rakesh Mehta, stated that Delhi has launched the Climate Change Agenda 2009-12 which is an ambitious plan for greening the capital city and this solar plant will contribute to the government’s strategy of promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency.
“While excelling in its core area of power distribution, NDPL has not lost sight of initiatives concerning the environment,” stated Mr Adi Engineer. Mr Prasad Menon reiterated that the NDPL initiative fits well into the overall Tata Power philosophy of supporting green power initiatives.
Mr Sunil Wadhwa, MD, NDPL, stated that this 1 MW solar power plant is one of the largest solar plant of its kind within city limits in India by a power distribution company. NDPL developed a novel solution to utilise the structure for solar arrays to also serve as a covered storage, thus doubling the use of scarce and expensive land resource in the centre of Delhi. A space structure of nearly 10 metres height and involving 925 MT of steel was designed and erected successfully to serve the purpose.
NDPL started its solar journey in 2008 when it commissioned solar PV plants of 4 KW and 15 KW capacity at its corporate office at Kingsway Camp and at its training academy at Rohini, Delhi. NDPL has also pioneered the MNRE’s ‘Demonstration Programme on Tail End Grid Connected Solar Power Plants.’ It has been sanctioned three projects under this prestigious program under which it has commissioned a 54 KW Grid Interactive Solar PV Plant at Poothkhurd, a 43 KW plant at Narela and the third one of 45 KW at Bawana in Delhi.
Keeping in view the policy and regulatory developments, NDPL is planning to launch a three-fold initiative to promote solar power generation in the time span of next 3-4 years:
- NDPL shall be setting up Grid-interactive Solar PV systems on the rooftops of around 56 of its grid substations in its distribution network of North & North West Delhi with a cumulative capacity 2.5 -3 MW
- It is also pursuing the prospect of setting up a 100 MW Grid Interactive Solar Power Plant in Rajasthan.
- NDPL shall also be facilitating the setting up of Grid Interactive Solar PV systems on the rooftops of individual households and commercial buildings.
The CEO of Tata BP Solar, Mr K Subramanya, said that Tata BP Solar has pioneered the grid-connected solar power systems in India and the latest one megawatt plant is a logical extension of the several kilowatt-scale solar power plants we have already commissioned over the years. Tata BP Solar maintained the highest safety standards while executing this project, especially the mounting of solar panels at a height of nearly 10 metres, and movement of material, thanks to well synergised team work between Tata BP Solar, NDPL and the contractors. The whole project has been commissioned with zero incident or mishap. The SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system integrated into the plant will closely monitor and record the performance of the plant on a continuous basis.
