World’s largest solar power plant By Adanis in TN

India can be rightly called as the land of rising solar opportunities, given its commitment to install 100 GW of solar power by 2022. The governments at the state and central level are trying every bit to promote solar energy at their levels. As such it is obvious to hear about many firsts in India. The country with its high solar insolation, rising power expenses and increased power cuts its ideal for solar power installations.

Few couple of months ago, around May this year we had heard the country install the world’s first largest rooftop installation in Punjab. In another news, world’s largest solar power plant has been commissioned in Tamil Nadu.

Adani Group gives India the world’s largest solar power plant located at Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. This 648 MW plant spans across 5,000 acres of land and INR 4,550 crore. The Adanis have been instrumental in developing solar power in India. The plan was announced during the last year and the installation took place at the rate of 11 MW per day. Approximately 25 lakh solar modules, more than 570 inverters, 150 transformers are installed at the site.

Image Credit: ABB

Tamil Nadu had installed more than 400 MW by January 2016, ranking as the fourth largest state by installed solar power. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh occupied the first three positions with more than 1200 MW, 1000 MW, 670 MW of installed solar power respectively. More than 1 GW of solar power installation was achieved by TN by March 2016. And now this mega installation, which proves the state’s commitment towards solar energy. More than 1 GW of solar power has been installed by the state so far in 2016 itself. Though the state has vast areas of uncultivable land, its progress towards solar is laudable.

India has vast stretches of unutilized land, but many states are still not paying heed towards the importance of having solar power. Haryana, Jharkhand and Delhi need to wake up now before it is too late. They should learn from states like Tamil Nadu. If every state undertakes this opportunity, it will be able to reduce its expenditure on power and there will be a sustainable supply of power through alternative energy sources too.