April 7, 2015: Tata Power Solar, India’s largest specialised solar EPC player, and SASTRA University, South India’s leading engineering institute, announced the successful completion of a 1.25MW rooftop solar power project. This rooftop solar project at SASTRA University’s Thanjavur and Kumbakonam campus was inaugurated today by His Excellency Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India.
As part of this project, SASTRA has signed a power purchase agreement with Tata Power Trading Company Limited (TPTCL). As the project’s investors, TPTCL will sell power generated from the plant to SASTRA for a 15 year tenure.
Speaking on the project, Dr. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean – planning and development, SASTRA University said “We continuously look at projects which will promote our renewable energy focus, and are glad to partner with Tata Power Solar and TPTCL to execute this landmark project for us. They have delivered on the promise of the brand TATA”.
Commissioned as a part of the university’s green energy efforts, these solar plants will offset 30 per cent of the university’s total energy consumption. These plants will generate, cumulatively, nearly 20 lakhs kWh energy annually and will reduce more than 1600 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission.
“We are proud to help SASTRA University harness its energy needs in a green and sustainable manner. Fostering the need and importance of renewable energy at an academic level is critical, and initiatives such as these help us contribute to India’s solar journey.” said Ashish Khanna, ED & CEO, Tata Power Solar.
Commenting on the project, Sanjeev Mehra, MD, TPTCL said “We are pleased to have partnered with SASTRA on this strategic asset investment in rooftop solar and also to move ahead on our renewable and sustainability objective. We are pleased with the cooperation received from SASTRA in the realisation of this rooftop solar power project. With India’s increased focus on solar energy we are confident that this investment will play a crucial role in propelling the growth.”
Setup on 11 buildings across the two campuses, these plants come with in-built grid interactive string inverters to better efficiency up to 98 per cent and reduce losses. To further minimise transmission and distribution losses, power generated by each individual rooftop plant will be used by the same building. These installations have been made with customised RCC and GI sheets to maximise energy generation and capacity utilization.
About Tata Power Solar:
Tata Power Solar (TPS), with 25 years of deep domain expertise, is one of the pioneering solar manufacturers in the world and India’s largest specialised EPC player. Founded in 1989, the company was originally formed as a joint venture between Tata Power and British Petroleum Solar (BP Solar). As a pioneer and market leader in the solar space, headquartered in Bangalore, TPS now operates independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power. TPS has a strong national presence with 8 regional offices, 40 authorised service centres plus a network of more than 1000 channel partners nationwide.
As one of the largest solar manufacturers in India, TPS operates three world-class manufacturing units in Bangalore, with a production capacity of 200 MW of modules and 180 MW of cells. It has completed more than 160 MW of ground-mount utility scale and 40 MW of rooftop and distributed generation projects across the country as of FY14. It also offers a diverse line of solar products for both urban and rural markets – these include water heaters, home lighting, street lighting, power packs, and water pumps among others. TPS is committed to enabling solar everywhere and aims to provide energy access to millions of people across the country via its integrated solar solutions.