Construction Industry News
Even as the Union Department of Energy has set targets for state-owned and private discos to replace their 58,000 MU of thermal energy with solar energy by 2025-26, the Mettur Thermal Power Station (MTPS) has invited bids to set up a 5o0 kilowatts ( kW) grid-connected, ground-mounted solar power plant and the 30 kW rooftop solar panels.
Power Ministry's trajectory is for states to replace 20% of 12,386 MU thermal energy with renewable energy by 2023-24, another 35% by 2024-25 and the remaining 45% by 2025-26.
However, some Tangedco officials are wary of meeting the Ministry of Energy's expectation as the land needed to replace thermal energy with renewable energy would be huge. Five hectares of land are needed to set up a solar park with a capacity of 1 MW. Also, setting up solar power plants at thermal stations would require better maintenance, as the panels can be easily covered by dust and ash, which would reduce the generating capacity. The panels should be cleaned daily.
However, in order to increase the renewable energy capacity in Tamil Nadu, the state government has made plans to set up solar parks in all districts and Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji recently said that 3,673 acre of government land has been allocated for this purpose by the district collectors and studies. It is being investigated whether the grounds are suitable for setting up solar parks.
The minister said the state government plans to increase renewable energy capacity by 20,000 MW and announcements have already been made for projects with 6,000 MW.
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