WCA May 2012

India

Mahindra Solar commissions 5MW unit Mahindra Solar has announced the commissioning of a 5-megawatt grid-connected solar power plant, using crystalline silicon modules, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The plant has been established under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) policy and had the distinction of generating the highest output per MW of any solar plant in India, by using tracker technology that maximises energy from the sun. The site is equipped to evacuate 55MW and the company intends to scale up production capacity to match the output capacity. Mahindra Solar – India Email : info@mahindra.com Website : www.mahindra.com AP Genco’s first solar power plant Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd (AP Genco) has announced its first entry into solar power generation with the commissioning of a 1MW photovoltaic cell-based solar power plant at Priyadharsini Jurala Hydro-Electric Project. The project was allocated to AP Genco under Phase 1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), a public limited company under the control of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The project has been designed to provide annual energy output of 1.4 million units (MU). The power will be fed into the 11kV system of Central Power Distribution Company Ltd (CPDCL) at Gadwal, Mahaboobnagar District. Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd – India Fax : +91 234 991 01 Email : contactus@apgenco.gov.in Website : www.apgenco.gov.in Power for Bangladesh The Government of Bangladesh has initiated a programme to increase its country’s electricity production. Wärtsilä has been awarded two contracts to supply power plant generating equipment to the programme. The total output of these two plants will be over 200MW, and they will produce electricity to be supplied to the national grid. Both plants are scheduled to be operational before the end of 2012.

independent power producer (IPP), has ordered 12 20-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 generating sets with a total output of approximately 100MW. The new power plant will operate initially on heavy fuel oil (HFO), but the engines can be switched to gas operation when a supply of natural gas becomes available. The same owner – PowerPac-Mutiara Consortium – has also ordered six 18-cylinder Wärtsilä 46 engines in V-configuration and auxiliary equipment for its Khulna power plant project. The output of the Khulna power plant will be over 100MW. “These are important orders...for the Bangladesh Power Development Board, which urgently needs this additional generating capacity. Our ability to supply the needed equipment within a very short time-frame was crucial to the award of these contracts.... Furthermore, a unique feature of our engine technology is that where required, they can be easily converted to run on gas as soon as a gas supply is available, and this too was a key factor in the award of these contracts,” said Göran Richardsson, sales director, Wärtsilä Power Plants Asia. Council starts work Mr Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, is to head the Solar Energy Industry Advisory Council recently established by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Confirming this to Business Line, Mr A N Srivastava, director of MNRE, responsible for National Solar Mission Coordination and Issues concerning manufacturing, duties and taxation, said that the council is constituted from industry members. The list of members is said to include industrialists Mr Jamshed Godrej, Mr Baba Kalyani and Mr Deepak Puri of Moser Baer, Mr K Subramanya, CEO, Tata BP Solar, Mr HR Gupta, managing director of Indosolar, Mr Vineet Mittal of Welspun, Mr B P Rao, chairman and managing director, BHEL, and Mr BC Tripathi, GAIL chairman and managing director. Mr Srivastava said that the thrust of the committee’s mandate is ‘manufacture’, so that the Indian solar industry evolves with Indian-built equipment. The council’s term ends on 31 st March 2013. The constitution of the council is viewed against the backdrop of a division in the Indian solar industry. Developers are demanding freedom for imports, while the wafer and panel manufacturers are asking for protection from dumping from across the shores. Most solar panels are imported as, due to a build up of inventory in the US and China, manufacturers there are selling cheap, and Indian manufacturers, such as Tata BP Solar and Indosolar, have been badly hit by imports.

Solar Energy Industry Advisory Council – India

Transmission line orders Sterlite Grid, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sterlite Technologies, has placed orders for 765kV transmission lines with KEC International and Simplex Infrastructure. KEC

PowerPac Mutiara Jamalpur Power Plant Ltd, an

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2012