Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturer and solar EPC player, commissioned a 200 MW solar power project for Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) that will power nearly 1,50,000homes once connected to the grid. The plant, situated in district Anatapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, is segregated 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, and power will be evacuated at 33 KV level in 2 pooling substations of 33/220 KV capacity, which will further evacuate power to 220/400 KV main substation.
In the project, a total of 8,48,680 modules, ranging from 320 wp to 330 wp were installed. The project is expected to produce 446 MU energy annually and will reduce 210 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions in a year. Vikram Solar will also carry out Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the plant for a period of 5 years from the date of commissioning.
Mr. Kuldeep Jain, COO- EPC, Vikram Solar, shared on the occasion, “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 execution of blasting required to reach the desired trench depth for cable placement, and non-availability of natural earth material for back filling 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.”