Tuesday, February 11, 2014: In an effort to tap solar energy, the Gujarat Government along with the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited is building a 10 Mega Watt solar power generation plant on the Narmada canal, in Vadodara. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,099 billion and its construction will begin from 14 February, this year.
It is rumoured that the state-owned company has given the project to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) of Hyderabad, which has already built 50 MW plant in Maharashtra and 20 MW plant in Andhra Pradesh.
The new project is likely cover a distance of 5.5 km from Vishwamitri Siphon to Railway Siphon in Gujarat. The solar plant will come up in the engineering procurement construction (EPC) mode instead of public private partnership (PPP) mode. MEIL will also be maintaining it for 25 years, said some online reports.
The plant will be ready in about six months and will compensate 16.2 million units in its first year. It will have around 33,000 to 36,000 solar panels, that are designed to sustain a wind velocity of 150 kilometres per hour. The wastage of water through evaporation in the canal will be reduced by the construction of the plant. The best advantage is that no land acquisition is required to construct the plant, thus saving money and resources of the government.
