Vikram Solar Commissions Solar Project worth 200 MW for APGENCO in AP

Vikram Solar has announced that it has productively commissioned a 200 MW solar power project for Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO). The power generated by the solar plant is projected to power nearly 1,50,000 homes once connected to the grid. The plant located in district Anatapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, and is isolated into 2 blocks of 100 MW each for better management and higher efficiency.

The project is spread across 1000 acres (500 acres each for 100 MW) of undulated rocky terrain, with a total of 8,48,680 modules, ranging from 320 wp to 330 wp used for development. The power from the plant will be evacuated at 33 KV level in 2 pooling substations of 33/220 KV capacity, which will further relinquish power to 220/400 KV main substation.

Kuldeep Jain, COO- EPC, Vikram Solar, said, “At Vikram Solar, we have always been focused towards building capacities to increase our contribution in the Indian solar revolution. We faced many challenges during the execution of this project. Undulated land required boulders/rocks to be excavated from the site. Multiple and yet careful executions of blasting required to reach the desired trench depth for cable placement, and non-availability of natural earth material for backfilling presented engineering challenges.”

“On the other hand, confusion surrounding GST rate applicability impacted cash flows, and implementation of Safeguard delayed delivery of modules. However, meticulous planning and strategy development in engineering and operations helped us in successfully completing the project with an average installation of around 4 MW per day. This is quite a proud moment for us and we hope that this would be just the beginning of a fruitful association between Vikram Solar and APGENCO,” he added.

The project is anticipated to produce 446 MU of energy yearly and will reduce 210 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. The West Bengal-based manufacturer will also carry out a complete Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the plant for a period of 5 years from the date of commissioning.