Moser Baer commissions India's largest solar plant

Moser Baer Clean Energy Ltd, an arm of Moser Baer Projects Pvt Ltd (MBPPL), has commissioned the country’s largest solar plant in Tamil Nadu. The 5-Mw plant is estimated to have cost the company around Rs 70-75 crore.

The technical expertise for commissioning was provided by the EPC (engineering, procurement and commissioning) arm of Moser Baer Solar Ltd. International Finance Corporation and IDBI bank have provided debt for the project. US-based private equity fund Blackstone recently invested $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) in Deepak Puri-promoted MBPPL to pick up a ‘significant’ minority stake.

According to industry sources, 1-Mw photovoltaic solar farm has been commissioned in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Punjab and couple of 3-Mw solar farms have been commissioned in Karnataka.

The solar farm has been commissioned using amorphous silicon Thin Film technology, best suited to the Indian climatic conditions, and is connected to the 110-kilovolt-ampere local grid. The project had been awarded by the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency and is being implemented under the Generation Based Incentive scheme of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The project awarded on the basis of a global bid is the first of its kind in the solar farm category to be commissioned in India under the first phase of the National Solar Mission, according to a company release.

Ratul Puri, director, MBPPL, said, “As per official estimates, India receives solar radiation of about 5,000 trillion kWh (kilowatt-hours) per year. This equates to 4-7 kWh/sqm/yr, more than India’s total energy consumption (848 billion kWh – as projected by the Central Electricity Authority). It is evident that India has immense potential and we need to ramp up rapidly in the right direction.”

The panels installed at the Sivaganga Project in Tamil Nadu were procured from Moser Baer Solar Ltd, and they were used as they are best suited in ramping up grid-connected solar farms in high ambient temperature region like India.