He turned to the sun after casting around

This family had 300 acres of barren land in the Kangayam region of Tirupur district on which the sun beat down fiercely and burned all hopes of making money from agriculture. The family's money came from a power-intensive foundry unit supplying castings to oil & gas industries, especially in Europe where sustainability is big."We were supplying castings to oil & gas industries for the past 30 years. Most of our exports are to Europe, which is spearheading the shift to green and sustainable energy. Naturally, we too thought of diversifying our business and the solar opportunity looked the best," says Ezhil G, chairman, Ultimate Alloys and Natrinai Ventures (NGE Green Energy). That's where the 50-60 acres he personally owned and the 300 acres that the extended family had came in. All this land had been lying idle for years and the region got a lot of sunlight. So the family decided to set up solar power fields. This was around 2019. "As we were finalizing the business plan for solar energy, a textile mill owner in Tirupur region checked with us on the possibility of establishing a solar power project (8MW) on an EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) basis. The mill owner had lands in the region at Vellakovil and it made business sense to undertake that project," says Ezhil.The Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns helped the management team delve deeper into the solar opportunity. The company decided to move away from EPC and start establishing solar parks, the way Suzlon and Gamesa did for wind energy. Buy land, design solar project, find industry players in need of captive green energy, get them to invest in the capacity they require, take care of operations and maintenance and ensure disturbance-free power distribution. The company identified Mulanoor in Tirupur region for the first park with 25MW capacity."Evacuation is a big problem when it comes to rural areas. We decided to establish solar parks with our own substations and connect them to the grid, after obtaining clearance from Tangedco," says Ezhil.To make this work, the company formed a six-member technical team, including five people who had retired from TNEB at the level of CEs and EEs. The company also has a German consultant. The company has established its second solar park at Dharapuram (also in Tirupur) and the third park is underway in Theni district. The next is set to come up in Pudukottai district. "We have already mastered the art of establishing 110KV substations and even connecting our generated power to 400KV transmission lines. We ensure intense power generation and lowest transmission loss," says Ezhil, who is planning to take the company public with an IPO sometime soon.By the end of this month, the company would have established solar parks with a combined capacity of 120MW-130MW. "We want to double our capacity every year to touch at least 1GW capacity by 2030. For that we need money and hence the plan for an IPO for capital infusion," says Ezhil.The company's next focus is energy storage (batteries).As for the Kangayam land, it is still lying barren. A bank for future energy needs.