RANCHI: At a time when the country is staring at power crisis due to the short supply of coal to thermal power stations, Jharkhand is preparing for the challenge by clearing the decks for installation of solar power. The total installed capacity of the state through renewables would supersede the indigenous installed capacity through non-renewables. Four solar parks of 80MWs each have been planned to be installed in Garhwa, Palamu, Simdega, and Deoghar. Tender has been floated to invite parties to conduct topography survey, geo-technical investigation, hydrological study and assessment of social and environmental impact over the plots selected for these solar parks.
At present, the only state-owned power generation unit is of Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited (TVNL), which is a thermal plant with an installed capacity of 2X210MWs, of which one unit is functional. Yet another operational unit is of Subarn Rekha Hydel Power (SRHP) of 130MWs. Once the solar parks see the light of the day—installed thermal capacity would remain at 420MWs whereas the installed capacity through renewables would reach 450MWs. As of now, around 52MW solar power plants are operational.
Executive engineer at Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA) Ravi Shankar said around 100 acre land each for these four solar parks have been identified and necessary process of acquisition is either complete or in advance stage. “100acre each have been kept ready in Badadobna, Deoghar, Jilinga in Simdega, Satbarwa in Palamu, and Puregara in Garhwa,” he said, adding that tender has been floated to conduct topography and geo-technical study.
The solar parks would be photovoltaic grid connected with the option of including storage. The ground mounted PV solar parks produce electricity during the day time and feed the electricity to the nearest grid whereas once connected with storage, power produced can be used as an alternate to the grid power in case of short supply.
