The Punjab government has set up a 1-MW solar power plant at Phulokheri village in Bathinda district under the demonstration programme on the tail-end grid-connected solar power plants at a cost of Rs.13.10 crore.
Minister for non-conventional energy Bikram Singh Majithia said Punjab had considerable sunlight available for more than 330 days in a year with good insulation levels, so the abundant energy could be utilised for generation of power during the daytime through solar power plants.
“The main objective of the demonstration programme is to connect the plant at the tail-end of the grid, providing voltage support to strengthen the grid, besides providing additional power during the day,” he said, adding that the environment-friendly solar resource for power generation would also improve the quality of electricity.
He added that the state government had taken a chunk of 54 kanals on lease from the Phulokheri panchayat near the 66KV tail-end grid sub-station at Rama Mandi in Bathinda district for a 33-year lease. He said the power generated from the project was evacuated to the sub-station of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited by synchronising on the 11KV bus bar through the 11KVA dedicated transmission line. A team from the Central Electricity Authority has cleared the project as “of international standards of the solar power plant.”
The minister said the state government had set a target to generate 400 MW through solar power plants.
