World’s largest Single Rooftop Solar Power Plant inaugurated in Amritsar

World’s largest single rooftop solar power plant of 11.5 MegaWatt (MW) capacity was inaugurated at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh in Beas near Amritsar in Punjab.
This is the largest Solar Power Plant spread over 82 acres of rooftop in single campus on multiple roofs with installed capacity of 19.5 MW.
Key facts

• The plant has been set up with the cost of 139 crore rupees and would generate clean and green energy sufficient to power approximately 8,000 homes.
• It will also help in abating 4-lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the next 25 years.
• The clean power produced from this plant will be purchased by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) as per the power purchase agreement signed Dera for 25 years.
• The first phase (7.5 MW) of this project was launched in September 2013 and was synchronised with the grid in April 2014.
• Later, the second phase (12 MW) was launched in February 2015 and synchronised in December 2015.

Besides, seven rooftop solar power plants of 8MW capacity were also inaugurated in Beas Dera campus. With this it becomes the highest single campus generating solar power of 19.5 MW at multiple rooftops in the country.
Currently, Punjab is generating 470 MW of solar power and projects of 500 MW capacities are in the pipeline. On completion of these projects, state would be able to generate solar power of close to 1,000 MW by the end of FY 2016-17.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2016