NTPC Simhadri's floating solar power plant to go on stream soon
The Rs 110-crore project, awarded to BHEL, will add 25 Mw to NTPC Simhadri’s existing 500x4 Mw capacity of thermal power
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Visakhapatnam: The floating solar power plant being developed at NTPC Simhadri Simhadri Super Thermal Power Plant at Parawada will be ready for commissioning in the next two months.
The project, awarded to BHEL at a cost of Rs 110 crore to complete it in 15 months through a competitive bidding, will be the second largest in undivided Andhra Pradesh after the 100-Mw plant being set up at Ramagundam in Telangana. NTPC Simhadri Chief General Manager Diwakar Kaushik told reporters during a virtual meet on Tuesday evening that they would add 25 Mw of solar power to their present generating capacity of 500x4 Mw of thermal power.
He said the power evacuation from the project is through dedicated cabling from the reservoir to plant switchgear at 33KV level.
As part of the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract, engineering firm BHEL is right on track in Simhadri's major green energy initiative. The solar plant will be installed in the raw water reservoir of the plant spread over an area of 150 acre. The floating solar PV project is one of the largest installations in the country.
The Simhadri plant was commissioned in 2002 with an investment of Rs 4,,000 crore. Simhadri meets its water requirement from Yeleru main canal as part of its stake in the Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company. It sources its raw material coal from Talcher Coalfields Ltd through railway lines.
NTPC, which acquired land from APIIC at Pudimadaka near here to set up a 4,000-Mw ultra mega power plant with original design to run with imported coal, shelved the plan due to a drastic fall in the prices of solar power.
