Prism Johnson Limited (formerly Prism Cement) has agreed to acquire up to 30 percent equity stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which will be incorporated with CSE Development (India) Pvt. Ltd. (Cleantech) for setting up captive solar power projects.

The projects will be developed at various manufacturing facilities of Prism Johnson Limited across the country and are expected to have a total capacity of 22 MW. The projects will be developed with Prism Johnson Limited as the captive user and Cleantech as the developer. Prism Johnson, a cement manufacturer, expects the captive solar projects to help in reduction of the overall cost of production.

The 30 percent equity is said to have an approximate value of ₹100 million (~$ 1.39 million).

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Power amended the guidelines relating to captive generation projects in India. Under the draft amendment, for a project to be considered captive, minimum 26 percent of the project ownership should be from the captive user, and at least 51 percent of power generated must be utilized for captive use.

Many companies are developing solar projects for captive consumption in order to cut down on their expenditure on power requirements.

Recently, Mercom reported that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was looking for an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor to develop a 1 MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) project at Begumpet airport in Hyderabad.

In January 2018, Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Cairn Oil & Gas has issued a notice inviting expressions of interest (EoIs) to develop the solar project with a minimum capacity 20 MW and a maximum capacity 50 MW. The project would be developed in Rajasthan’s Barmer district.

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