The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is all set to start partial power generation from a 92-MW floating solar energy plant being set up at NTPC's unit at Kayamkulam in Alappuzha.
Officials said the solar power plant was now ready to generate 10 MW. The work on the Solar PV Power Station is being carried out by Tata Power Solar (70 MW) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (22 MW). Of this, the installation of solar panels to produce 22 MW is nearing completion.
"Right now we are in a position to generate 10 MW. BHEL will complete the work on the rest 12 MW by the end of this month. Besides, the work on 70 MW is making good progress and we hope to complete it by July this year," said an NTPC official here on Monday.
The project, which is running behind the schedule, was to be made operational in 2021. The work got hit upon a stumbling block following a delay in importing solar cells from China. "The issue has been resolved and solar panels have started arriving. We are on the course to complete the entire project by July," the official said.
The floating solar system is being set up on the lake adjacent to the NTPC’s Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Project (RGCCPP). The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is expected to start purchasing power from the floating solar station at ₹3.16 per kWh soon. An agreement to this effect was signed between the KSEB and the NTPC a couple of years ago.
The project is being implemented at a cost of ₹465 crore. A total of 2.16 lakh solar panels will be mounted on floaters. Once completed, the Kayamkulam plant will be the second-largest floating solar power project of the NTPC after the 100-MW plant at Ramagundam in Telegana.
The KSEB had stopped drawing power from the 359-MW naphtha-fuelled RGCCPP since 2017 due to the cost. It led the NTPC to shift its focus to solar energy. The company is in possession of around 1,000 acres of land, which includes waterbodies suitable for setting up floating solar projects. In recent years, it commissioned a few small solar projects at the Kayamkulam site. ..
