Low Cost 10 MW PV Plant in Harayana

• Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited has commissioned a 10 MW solar power plant
• The PV system is located at the Panipat Thermal Power Station and was commissioned over a month earlier than scheduled
• The project cost around $8.65 million or 86.5 US cents/W The power tariff for this project comes at around 4.88 INR per kWh ($0.07), but without using viability gap funding (VGF)
• Sterling and Wilson provided EPC and will take care for O&M services for the next five years

A 10 MW capacity solar power plant was commissioned in the city of Panipat in the Indian state of Haryana. The plant is located at the Panipat Thermal Power Station.

Managing Director of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) MKV Rama Rao said that the project was commissioned 36 days before the scheduled date, according to Indian business daily The Economic Times (ET). The clean power tariff for this project is around 4.88 INR per kWh ($0.07). Rao called this 'the most competitive tariff without taking the benefit of viability gap funding (VGF)'.

On the first day, it generated and supplied 10,000 kWh of power to the grid; for the full year it is expected to produce around 17 million kWh of clean power annually.

Consultants for the project is Germi, a state-run research and development organization of the Gujarat government.

The project was set up by Indian EPC provider Sterling and Wilson for a total cost of 576.7 million INR ($8.65 million) or around 86.5 US cents/W. Rao is quoted as saying that while most of the equipment used in the project is made in India, the modules have been sourced from Chinese manufacturer JA Solar. Sterling and Wilson will provide O&M services for the plant for the next five years.

HPGCL says there is a potential to set up 133 MW of PV capacity at its power stations in Panipat, Yamunanagar, Hisar and Faridabad. This capacity can be in the form of ground mounted, rooftop, canal top and floating solar power plants.

As per the Haryana Solar Power Policy 2016, the state is aiming to scale up its Solar Renewable Purchase Obligation (Solar RPO) to 8% by 2021-22, up from the 0.25% today. This means it needs to have an installed PV capacity of 3,200 MW by 2021-22. Around 1,600 MW is supposed to come from rooftop PV projects.