The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has commissioned a 10 MW solar project which will power its plants at Dhaej, Gandhar, and Hazira located in the state of Gujarat.

This turnkey project will meet the Renewable Power obligation (RPO) of ONGC for Gujarat region and is intended for its captive power usage. Vikram Solar, a PV module manufacturer and EPC solutions provider, provided EPC services for this project and will also provide Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service for a period of three years from the date of commissioning.

The project is spread across 56 acres of land and segregated into eight blocks of 1.25 MW each. The 10 MW project has been powered with 44,144 modules.

The project was tendered in December 2016 by Rajasthan Electronic and Instruments Ltd. (REIL) on behalf of ONGC.

Earlier, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), a subsidiary of India’s state Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), commissioned solar projects aggregating 6.063 MW within the MRPL refinery premises in Mangalore, Karnataka.

Many other PSU’s are also investing in solar energy.

Recently, the Railways Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL), a joint venture of Indian Railways and RITES Limited, also invited bids for the setting up of 50 MWp solar project on railways land at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh under tariff based competitive bidding.

In March 2018, Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India tendered 20 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) project with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to be developed on the island of Andaman & Nicobar.

Last Year in September, Vikram Solar had commissioned 80 MW of solar at Gujarat’s Charanka Solar Park for Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL). The capacity comprised of two projects of 40 MW each.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer