NTPC Ramagundam to set up new solar power plant

The floating plant will be established on the waters of NTPC’s reservoir where the 100 MW plant exists.

Peddapalli: The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) Ramagundam, which has already established solar power units with a combined capacity of 110 MW including a 100 MW floating plant, has decided to set up another 170 MW solar plant. Out of the 170 MW, 70 MW will be from a floating plant while the remaining will be earth-mounted.

The floating plant will be established on the waters of NTPC’s reservoir where the 100 MW plant exists. Though NTPC officials had initially decided to set up a floating unit on the Yellampalli irrigation project if the State government was ready for it, it changed its decision.

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The Corporation has also decided to produce charcoal by burning 3 tons of garbage being generated in the Municipal Corporation of Ramagundam every day. The charcoal would be utilized for power generation as an alternative to normal coal. For this purpose, authorities have decided to establish a plant, sources said.

In the wake of an increase in production costs as well as decrease in natural resources, NTPC is focusing on alternate power generation sources. As part of its plans, the power giant initially established a 10 MW earth-mounted solar power plant near Shalapalli. Later, it created a record by establishing a 100 MW floating solar power plant for the first time in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the plant to the nation on July 30 last year.

The largest in the segment in the country, the 100-MW floating solar plant has been endowed with advanced technology as well as environment friendly features. Constructed with financial implication of Rs.423 crore through BHEL as an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract, the project spreads over 500 acres of its reservoir.

Divided into 40 blocks, each of the 2.5 MW blocks consist of one floating platform and an array of 11,200 solar modules. The floating platform consists of one Inverter, Transformer, and a HT breaker.

The solar modules are placed on floaters manufactured with HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) material. The entire floating system is anchored through special HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene) rope to the dead weights placed in the balancing reservoir bed.

NTPC authorities are planning to synchronize the second ultra-supercritical unit (800 MW) of the 2×800 MW Telangana Super Thermal Power Project to the grid within a few days.

NTPC authorities, who already synchronized the first unit on March 24, are preparing arrangements to synchronize the second unit as well. The unit will be stabilized gradually by commissioning of various auxiliary equipment and systems viz., boiler and turbine auxiliaries, coal handling system, ash handling system, water system, electrical system, etc., after synchronization.

Established as per the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, the 5×800 MW (4,000 MW) supercritical thermal power plant is mandated to supply 85 percent of the energy generated by it to Telangana. The Telangana government had made a formal request to the NTPC and Ministry of Power to allocate 100 percent of the power generated there to meet the increasing demand for energy in the State, but a decision is yet to be taken on this.

This plant has several environment-friendly fuel-efficient features with improved cycle efficiency of 42 per cent, a unified control system and control room, gas insulated sub-station, installation of roof-top solar panels on all plant buildings and so on.