Hindustan Salts,BHEL in talks for mega solar plant

The plan to install the solar and wind power plants to generate electricity on the land owned by HSL,according to the ministry,will help in fetching revenues for both the companies.

A 5 MW photo voltaic (PV) solar plant,based on crystalline silicon technology,roughly needs about 25 acres of land. HSL,which has a total of about 57,000 acres of land in Rajasthan,has asked IL&FS and BHEL to do a feasibility study to install the solar power plant on its land. Of the total land,around 37,000 acres is occupied by a lake.

“Of the 20,000 acres,we can give 15,000 acres for the installation of a solar power plant,as we need the rest for our core business. Once the project is implemented,preliminary estimates shows that we will have a capacity of 2,500 MW from a plant installed on the land and this will be the largest in Asia,” said R K Tandon,chairman and managing director,Hindustan Salts.

He added that the study is being conducted by IL&FS and BHEL and the report is likely to come soon. “HSL will get rent for the land it owns and has been lying idle for years. BHEL can earn by supplying equipment for wind and solar power generation plants,” the official said.

Tandon adds that the land in Gujarat can be fully utilised and has both wind and solar power generation potential. “The land has potential for another over 4,000 MW from both solar and wind generation,” he said. A senior BHEL official,when contacted about the proposal,said the formal communication on the plan is awaited.

BHEL manufactures PV modules at its plant in Bangalore. It produces both mono and poly silicon-based cells and modules from wafers procured mostly from Japan. According to the ministry officials,with the key inputs — land and equipment — available between the two utilities,BHEL should be able to put up the plant in double quick time. Under the extant rules of the REC (renewable energy certificate) mechanism,an entity that puts up a solar (or renewable energy based) plant is eligible to get trade-able renewable energy certificates. Typically,a 1 MW solar PV plant could yield between 15-18 lakh units a year.