Oct 26 2010
The Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) has announced its intentions to enter into solar power production by installing solar power plants in places such as Khedar in Hissar, Yamunanagar and Panipat.
The company has unveiled its plans to make use of solar energy to produce clean power and receive carbon credits. The solar power plants will be located in the vacant lands of its thermal power plants at Hisar, Yamunanagar and Panipet and at its Yamunanagar hydel power plant. The solar projects proposed by the company will be constructed by utilizing funds from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.
Earlier, in June the company had called for bids from solar consulting companies for availing their consultancy services. The bids were reissued on 14th July this year after removing some of the strict qualifying norms mentioned in the earlier tender. The bids were opened on July 28th this year and about seven firms had made bids showing interest in the project consultancy. The company has chosen three companies and short-listed them. The company has already established a renewable energy cell to quicken the process and to complete the solar power installations in six to eight months period.
According to the guidelines issued by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), a one MW solar PV plant can be set up by spending Rs.16.90 crores while a solar thermal plant can be set up with an investment of Rs.15.30 crores.
Sanjeev Kaushal, Managing Director of HPGCL, said that the company is in the process of finalizing the names of the consultants and the proposed projects will be grid friendly. He added that the company was all along developing power from coal and hydel resources and now has plans to move into clean power production utilizing solar energy. He said that his company wanted to make use of the best technology for the project.