Singareni Collieries Launches 37 MW Solar Plant in Telangana

State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) inaugurated 37 megawatts solar plant at Kothagudem in Telangana  on Wednesday.

Total 300 megawatts solar plants are being erected throughout Singareni, out of which 172 megawatts plants have already been completed and generating solar power, said Singareni Collieries, which is the first coal company to enter into the solar power sector along with thermal power.

The 37 megawatts solar plant was inaugurated by SCCL Directors N.Balaram and D.Satyanarayana. With this, Singareni has crossed the 200 megawatts milestone in solar sector. Company Chairman and Managing Director N. Sridhar conveyed his congratulations and instructed the concerned departments that the third phase erections should be completed by this year end.

Speaking on the occasion, the Directors said that Singareni is erecting these solar plants as part of environment protection measures and with this initiative almost 120 crore rupees are being saved. Singareni decided to erect 13 plants totaling 300 megawatts in 8 areas of Singareni and erection of these plants is to be completed in 3 phases.

In the first phase, BHEL was handed over a contract to complete power plants in four areas (Ramagundam, Manuguru, Yellandu and STPP) for 129 megawatts power generation and these have been completed and generation has started. Adani construction company was given contract to complete 4 plants in 3 areas (Kothagudem, Mandamarri-A, Mandamarri-B and Bhupalpally) with a capacity of 90 MW.

It has been completed and with this Singareni has reached solar power generation of 209 MW. Around 122.3 million units of solar power has been generated and has been connected to the grid.

SCCL achieved considerable growth in April this year in terms of coal production, dispatches and overburden removal in spite of disruptions due to the Covid pandemic. During April 2021, the mining company transported 54.43 lakh tonnes of coal, a growth of 79.11 per cent when compared to 30.4 lakh tonnes in April last year, and coal production was at 48.56 lakh tonnes, up 61.9 per cent over 30 lakh tonnes in April last year.