ReGen enters solar power with hybrid solution

Wind turbine maker ReGen Powertech ventures into solar power business offering an hybrid solution as well as an engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) contractor, a top company official said on Saturday.

The Rs.2,400 crore turnover company will be investing around Rs.205 crore capex this year and hoping to tap the overseas markets for its 2.8 MW wind turbine.

The prototype of the 2.8 MW - largest windmill in India - is being test now and certification is expected in October 2015.

"We have set up 200 kw solar power project connected to our own 1.5MW wind turbine located near here. It is an example of true wind-solar hybrid project sharing common infrastructure while generating power separately," Madhusudan Khemka, managing director told IANS here.

Coimbatore is around 500 km from Chennai.

He said wind and solar are complement each other. While wind power generation peaks at night, solar power generation peaks during the day.

Khemka said the solar power capacity linked to ReGen's 1.5 MW windmill can go up to 750 kw.

"We can set up the solar power project to an existing 1.5MW turbine supplied by us. We will be targeting our existing client base as well as the prospective ones," he said.

"The plant load factor (PLF) of a hybrid power project is around 37 percent while that of wind turbine alone is around 28 percent. The power generation efficiency is higher in the case of hybrid project," Khemka said.

With the sharing of infrastructure and major equipments like inverters between wind and solar power plants, the overall cost of a hybrid project is lower by around 15 percent as compared to stand alone wind and solar projects.

The company has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up two solar parks each with a capacity of 10 MW in Rajasthan.

Speaking about the expansion, Khemka said the company is investing around Rs.160 crore at its facility in Rajasthan's Udaipur to make blades.

"Another Rs.45 crore will be invested in developing 2 MW wind turbine. Now we make 1.5 MW turbines," he said.

ReGen expects its 2.8 MW unit to be certified for commercial production this October and shipments to start happening from April 2016 onwards.

"In India there are logistical problems to carry the huge tower, blades and the generator. We will ship out the generator from our Andhra Pradesh facility while blades would be sourced from an overseas manufacturer," he said.

The company hopes to close this fiscal with a turnover of around Rs.3,000 crore.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in)