Cement, Energy and Environment

-+-. \ will take a couple of years for these solar power generating units to become fully operational. Punjab's efforts to use alternative sources for renewable energy have met with initial success as a biomass power generation plant has been successfully generating 30 MW of power. Courtesy: TERI {The Energy Resources Institute) Newswire, 1-15 April, 2010, P14 . TITAN ANNOUNCES INDIA'S FIRST UTILITY - SCALE SOLAR POWER PLANT: 1 MW SPV IN WB CONNECTED TO GRID Titan Energy Systems, Hyderabad announced the completion and commissioning of the first megawatt scale solar electric power plant in Jamuria, West Bengal. Titan designed and built the power plant for the West Bengal Energy Development Corporation, a government of West Bengal Enterprise. While the current capacity is slightly more than 1 MW, a further 250 KW will be added early next year. The electricity from the facility is fed into the power grid of utility provider, viz., DPSC Ltd. , Seebpore, Asansol. This power plant is expected to power over 500 homes and few coal mines. This plant was powered by Titan's latest modules built using patented mono-crystalline cells from their partner, Suniva. These latest panels provide their customers with the highest efficiencies. The power plant was also designed to operate with 800 VDC, to significantly reduce losses. Rao SYS Chodagam of Titan Energy and Dr. SP Gon Chaudhuri of WBGEDCL took part in the comm1ss1onmg and grid evacuation of the power plant. - Having established as a reputed and quality manufacturer of Solar Photovoltaic Modules in India, Titan has since launched into Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the large– size power plants with initial assistance from Beck Energy. Germany, says Rao SYS Chodagam, Managing Director and Founder of Titan Energy. Courtesy: Electrical India, December 2009, P22. INDIA SET TO ADD 1,1 00 MW SOLAR POWER BY NEXT YEAR Installation Cost Per MW Likely To ComeDown Hyderabad, June 12, SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International} India, the apex body representing semiconductor manufacturers and solar/photovoltaic sector, expressed confidence that the country could look forward to adding about 1,100 MW of solar power generation capacity by next year. This expectation is based on an installed capacity to support about 1,000 MW a year and investments being made by companies. While this will be through small projects of 5-10 MW capacity initially, they are likely to be later ramped up to bring scale. The cost of per unit is also likely to come down by 10-15 per cent from Rs.15crore a MW for installation within 12-18 months, according to Mr. Sathya Prasad, President, SEMI India. "We also believe that once the implementation and domestic manufacture go up fuelled by local demand, the input and installation costs will come down further," he said Mr. Prasad told Business Line that "if the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission announced in January 201 0 has provided the new direction for the sector, we expect the implementation guidelines, which are likely to be announced by July, will provide the necessary thrust. Grid connectivity Of particular interest is the issue of grid connectivity and its implications on the solar power plants. While issues such as subsidies are clear, these implementation guidelines will clear the air about what to expect from sale of power generated from these solar photovoltaic generation projects," he said. "IFC and Helion Partners have made investments into Azure Energy and large banks like SBI are keen to fund the sector. The problem is understanding the funding requirements and returns they are likely to get. Therefore, we see a panel of experts being constituted to helping fresh funding," he said. There have been extensive consultations by the Government with the industry and stake holders to get feedback on various elements of the policy document. Based interest, he felt Phase I (1 ,100 MW) will be accomplished by 2012-13. R&D restricted activities "The R&D for solar /PV has been restricted to a very small set of labs. We need to see applied research that can be quickly commercialized to provide competitive advantage. There is also spurt in the R&D for non-silicon based materials aimed at reducing the cost. New materials and process technologies will continue to play a role in improving cost effectiveness," Mr. Prasad said. 49