The Andaman & Nicobar Islands, known for its legendary beaches and world class diving experience will soon have the country’s first city-scale battery storage solar power plants.
India’s largest generation utility NTPC will set up two solar storage plants with a total capacity of 25MW (mega watt) in the main island of Port Blair the Centre’s bid to rid the place of polluting diesel generators, its main source of power at present.
The size of the storage solar power plants will open a new avenue for bringing 24×7 power supply to remote locations. At present, some remote villages in Ladakh and certain hill states have storage solar power plants but they are miniscule in comparison with capacities ranging between 11kW (kilo watt) and 125kW.
The storage solar power plant comes in the wake of Petronet LNG‘s ongoing discussions with the Andaman administration for a floating facility to import liquid gas for converting generators to the less-polluting fuel. The ministry of new and renewable energy will meet 40% of the cost through grant meant for special areas.
By Baishakhi Dutta
