The Coimbatore Corporation is getting ready to commission its third solar plant at Ukkadam.

<p> </p><p><br><br>The 3.6MW plant is the largest the corporation has installed so far. It is being installed on the 15 acres of land adjacent to the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Ukkadam. The Rs 17 crore facility has 1,286 solar panels, each with a capacity of 320W.<br><br>Corporation commissioner J Sravan Kumar said that even though the deadline to complete the installation work is in June, work is almost complete. “The plant will start functioning within a month or two,” he said.<br><br>The civic body already runs two solar plants each with a capacity of 1MW at Ukkadam and Kavundampalayam, constructed at a cost of Rs 5.5 crore each. “It has been a year since the first solar power plant at Ukkadam started generating power. It generates 15 lakh units every month and is saving the corporation a huge sum, which otherwise would have gone towards paying electricity bill for operating the water pumping station at Velliangadu,” the commissioner said.<br><br>Pointing out the difference in power tariff based on consumption level, Kumar said that the move to use the power generated by the plant to offset the electricity bills of pumping station has benefited the corporation as the station has high-tension (HT) supply. “We hope to make the return of investment (RoI) in less than four years.”<br><br>The corporation has made use of the places once used as dump yards for setting up the plants. The plant at Kavundampalayam became operational less than a month ago.<br><br>The corporation had recently received an award from the ministry of housing and urban affairs for conserving the urban environment by installing solar power plants.<br><br><br>Referred from economic times, dated 06 Feb 2020.</p>

Comments: