OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2011. Tata BP Solar, a joint venture of Tata Power and BP Solar, added yet another megawatt-scale solar power plant to the list of those installed and commissioned under the Rooftop and Other Small Solar Power Generation Plant scheme administered by IREDA under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). This prestigious project is owned and developed by Ramakrishna Industries at Shadnagar in Andhra Pradesh. The one megawatt plant was synchronised to the grid on September 17, 2011.

Commenting on this significant occasion, K Subramanya, CEO, Tata BP Solar, expressed joy at the opening of the megawatt solar projects account in Andhra Pradesh and adding to the company list of satisfied customers.

This project uses 4,400 crystalline silicon modules of 230 Watts each, spread out over an area of five acres. These modules will generate electric current when solar radiation falls on them. This direct current electricity will be converted to alternating current through inverters and upgraded to 11kV via transformers so that it is fed into the electricity grid lines of the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board at 11kV. The solar power plant will generate 1.54 million units of electricity in the first year. Tata BP Solar has also taken the contract to provide the operation and maintenance services to the plant for the first 10 years after commissioning. The plant is designed to run for 25 years and the crystalline silicon modules manufactured and supplied by Tata BP Solar are guaranteed to perform for this period of 25 years with minimal degradation in the power output over the long lifetime. Ramakrishna Industries has signed a power purchase agreement with the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board for 25 years to supply this power to them.

Tata BP Solar has already executed MW projects in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa and Delhi, and is also executing further projects, which are in advanced stages, in the states of Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

The JNNSM is a flagship project of the Indian government to mainstream the use of solar energy.