Trichy: In a shot in the arm for green energy, municipal administration minister K N Nehru on Friday commissioned Trichy city’s first solar power plant at Panjapur developed by the corporation at Rs 50 crore. The local body can save Rs 9 crore from its annual electricity bill by feeding the electricity generated from the plant to Tangedco’s grid.
Officials said that the Panjapur solar power plant, developed under the smart cities mission programme, has a capacity of 9.6 megawatt (MW). Four solar power generation units (2.4 MW capacity each) are developed on about 33 acres near Trichy-Madurai national highway.
With 29,328 panels mounted on concrete pillars positioned at an elevated place from the ground, the solar plant is expected to generate 159.7 lakh electricity units per year at the rate of 43,000 units a day. The generated power will be fed to Tangedco’s substation at E Pudur, 4km away from the plant, through high-tension cables.
“Electricity produced by the plant will be adequate to compensate for the power consumption of eight drinking water collector wells and one sewage pumping station. Altogether, the plant could save Rs 9 crore per year in the electricity expense,” a senior corporation official told TOI.
A private agency is appointed by the local body to operate and maintain the solar plant for 10 years. The lifetime of solar panels is around 25 years. Officials said that the Panjapur solar park is the first project implemented directly by a municipal corporation in the state.
After inaugurating the plant, minister Nehru and mayor Mu Anbalagan commissioned new 120 watts streetlights installed on a newly built median on E Pudur to Panjapur Main Road.
