• Union Ministry of Shipping in India is looking at installing up to 200 MW of solar power capacity at 13 ports in the country
  • Indian Ports Association (IPA) is scheduled to take up project planning while the ports will finance the plants through internal accruals and debt that could include dollar-denominated loans
  • A committee will be looking at various options and will submit its report in a month’s time
  • The IPA may look at the option of producing power onesite and wheeling it to the rest of the ports

Indian Ports Association (IPA) operating under the Union Shipping Ministry is looking for sites to have solar power panels installed with a cumulative capacity of up to 200 MW. The ministry wants its 13 ports across the country to bring down the carbon footprint.

The ports are trying to increase their renewable energy quotient. Major ports of India have so far commissioned 16 MW of solar and 6 MW of wind power projects, as per daily newspaper, The Hindu. Now, the IPA will take up project planning and the ports will finance the plants through internal accruals and debt that could include dollar-denominated loans. It is looking for a suitable site for the plants.

A committee will reportedly explore options for the same and prepare its report in a month’s time.

One of the possibilities include producing power at one site, and then wheeling it to all the other ports. Mumbai port for instance is looking beyond captive consumption of the 20 MW electricity it requires.

The IPA has signed a MoU with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for project management consultancy. Under this initiative, 115 MW of solar potential has been proposed at 7 major ports. In addition, SECI will also lend its support to the installation of rooftop solar power projects at various ports.

In January 2016, the Ministry of Shipping had launched “Project Green Ports.” One of the initiatives as part of this program was to set up projects for renewable energy generation. Major Indian ports had taken up targets to set up solar power capacity under the program with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust taking up a 25 MW target (see Indian Ports Go Solar).

As per year end review of the Ministry of Shipping for 2016, it had been planning to have 90.64 MW of solar energy capacity at 12 major ports and 70 MW of wind energy capacity at four major ports by 2017.