India PV News Snippets
TPREL bags Tata Power-DDL PPA for 510 MW hybrid project; Thermax and FFI partner for green hydrogen in India; Vena Energy announces financial closure for 176 MW hybrid project; Viraj Profiles collaborates with Avaada Energy for 100 MW captive PV plant;
TPREL's hybrid PPA with Tata Group company: Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) has announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 510 MW hybrid solar and wind power plant with Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL). The latter is a Tata Power Company Limited's joint venture with the Government of NCT of Delhi. The PPA is for the 510 MW project, comprising 170 MW solar and 340 MW wind power, which TPREL calls one of the largest hybrid projects in India. It is located in Karnataka and will be commissioned within 24 months from the date of PPA signing. Electricity supplier to more than 7 million in North Delhi, Tata Power-DDL aims to save an average of 1,540 million units of carbon emissions annually with this PPA. TPREL says it won the project through a competitive bidding process, followed by the release of LOA by Tata Power-DDL. This win is an extension of the earlier LOA of 255 MW received in Dec. 2022. With this, TPREL counts its total renewables capacity as 6.3 GW and installed capacity as 3.91 GW.
Thermax signs green hydrogen MoU with FFI: Indian engineering firm Thermax Limited has entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australia's Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to jointly explore the green hydrogen space in India. It will include both green hydrogen projects and new manufacturing facilities in the country. The duo plans to investigate opportunities to jointly develop fully integrated green hydrogen projects for commercial and industrial customers in India targeting decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries here including refineries, fertilizers and steel. They hope to leverage the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme under India's National Green Hydrogen Mission to set up new manufacturing capacity. Additionally, the partnership could look at exporting electrolyzers and subsystems. India aims to increase its domestic production of green hydrogen to 5 million metric tons (MMT)/annum by 2030 and bring down its fossil fuel imports by over INR 1,000 billion ($12.1 billion). India's green hydrogen mission is expected to add about 125 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030 (see India's INR 197 Billion National Green Hydrogen Mission).
176 MW hybrid project moves forward: Singapore headquartered Vena Energy has achieved financial closure for its 1st hybrid renewable energy project in India with 176 MW solar-wind capacity. Located in Karnataka, the Gudadur Hybrid Project is made up of 48 MW solar and 128 MW wind power capacity with commercial operations due in Q4/2023. It is also the company's 1st green project financing arrangement in India, supported by 5 Mandated Lead Arrangers, including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), BNP Paribas Bank, Mizuho Bank Limited (Mizuho), Sumitomo Mitsui Bank Corporation (SMBC), and Axis Bank Limited. BNP Paribas, Mizuho, and SMBC acted as Green Loan Coordinators, HSBC acted as Account and Modelling Bank, and Axis Bank Limited acted as the Lenders Agent.
100 MW solar plant for Viraj Profiles: Stainless steel producer Viraj Profiles has announced a collaboration with green energy developer Avaada Energy to set up a 100 MW solar power plant in Tarapur, Maharashtra. According to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news, it will be a captive solar power plant that will come online by February 2024. It will generate close to 207 million units clean energy annually and help Viraj offset around 182 million kilos of CO2. Back in September 2022, TPREL said it will build a 100 MW captive solar power plant for Viraj Profiles in Tarapur (see India PV News Snippets).