In India Tamil Nadu planning solar power plants

Chennai, June 11 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government plans to establish solar power plants through private sector participation, the state’s Minister for Electricity Arcot N. Veerasamy said here Wednesday . The plan was based on guidelines laid down by the Union ministry of new and renewable energy guidelines, Mr .Veerasamy said at a conference on renewable sector. The solar plants would have capacities up to 10 mega watts.

The seventh Green Power Conference, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), is aimed at attracting corporate investment in the renewable sector.

There were as many as 41 sites where wind power could be generated in Tamil Nadu, Mr .Veerasamy said.

He said the installed capacity of wind mills in the state, including the 19 mega watts under public sector, was 3,711 mega watts. The estimated power generation from biomass was 4,087 mega watts.

“We do not have enough hydel resources, solar energy is still too expensive and we are still waiting for a technology breakthrough”, CII’s Renewable Energy Council chairman Ramesh Kymal said.

He said wind energy was at present the best renewable option, and that large wind farms generating over a 1,000 mega watts each were the solution to India’s power shortage in the future.

“In view of the escalating oil prices globally, it is the right time to focus on renewable sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels”, Mohan Verghese Chunkath, chairman and MD of Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency, said.