Ultra Mega Solar Project to Offer Relief to State

CHENNAI: The budget announcement to set up an Ultra Mega Solar Power Project in Tamil Nadu has come as a welcome relief for the power-starved State. However, with the concept being new and details still sketchy, the power managers here are eagerly waiting for scheme guidelines.

“This is a new concept about which little is known at the moment. There are many practical challenges in setting up an ultra mega power plant in the solar sector, which will be clear only when we get the scheme guidelines,” said an official.

‘Ultra mega’ tag is given to plants that have an installed capacity of around 4,000 MW. These are usually thermal power plants fired by coal. But till now, there are no working models in the solar energy sector in the country, added the official.

“Solar energy is a space-intensive sector. For each mega watt power, we require about five acres of land. If this is indeed an ultra mega project, then we require about 20,000 to 25,000 acres of land. ” According to the official, it is possible to set up the panels on wastelands and can be shifted elsewhere if needed.

Another welcome initiative announced was the Green Energy Corridor Project to facilitate evacuation of renewable energy across the country. This will help transmit the power generated by windmills in south TN where many are standing still due to grid limitations.