Adani’s Kamudhi solar plant has produced 840 crore units of electricity since 2015

KAMUDHI: The 648 MW solar power plant of Adani at Kamudhi in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu has produced 840 crore units of electricity since it was commissioned in 2015. A thermal power plant would have emitted 77 lakh metric tonne of carbon to produce 840 crore units of power.

One of the world’s largest single-location solar power projects commissioned by Adani Group, it has lit up 2,65,000 houses, according to the plant authorities.

Addressing the reporters during a recent field visit, plant head R Aravamudhan said the project was commissioned with an investment of Rs 45.5 billion in 2015. Spread over 2,500 acres, the plant comprises 25 lakh solar modules mounted on 3,80,000 foundation with over 7000 km of cables. The solar power plant has 576 inverters and 154 transformers. It has three substations through which the power is transmitted to a 400 KV substation of TANTRANSCO near the plant.

Though the plant installed most of the solar panels functioning on polycrystalline modules which were available by then, they have adopted new technology on a pilot basis for about 25 MW. The new technologies include 1.25 MW bifacial module technology, 10 MW of thin film technology, 5 MW seasonal tilt technology and 8.75 MW of single-axis tracking technology, said Aravamudhan.

After its inception, they maintained 19% of the Plant Load Factor (PLF) which is a handsome figure for solar power plants, he said. He stated that the solar power plant functions at its optimum during February when the solar irradiation is high.

The modules produce electricity by light and the efficiency comes down if the temperature goes up. “The popular notion that more sun produces more power is wrong. It is not the temperature but the irradiation of the sun which is nothing but light,” said Aravamudhan.