Tamil Nadu and Adani Power Ltd signed PPA to set up 200 MW solar power plant in Ramanathapuram

Tamil Nadu Government and Adani Power Ltd in the second week of June signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to set up a 200 MW solar power plant in Ramanathapuram district.

The plant will be constructed with an investment of nearly 1400 crore rupees.

The district was chosen by the group because of the fact that it is one of the two districts along with Thoothukudi that receive highest solar radiation in the state.

In March 2015, Adani Power Ltd applied to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGDECO) for a load flow study to establish 1000 MW solar plant at Kamuthi in the district.

In 2012, the State government unveiled  Solar Energy Policy (SEP) that envisaged generation of 1000 MW every year for three years through utility scale projects, rooftops and Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) schemes.

However, the plan did not fructified with the state’s total grid connected solar power achieving a mere 5 percent of its goal due to high capital cost (7 crore rupees per MW) and land requirements (5 acres for 1 MW) involved in setting up solar power plants.

As per data released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Tamil Nadu ranks seventh in terms of total commissioned solar capacity till May 2015, contributing just about 3.8 percent of the total capacity of 3.88 GW.

In India, Rajasthan and Gujarat lead among the states and Union Territories (UTs) in terms of solar power generation because of the fact that both the states receive high solar radiation and have  lot of arid land that is available at low cost.

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