Steel Maker Viraj Profiles Goes With TPREL For 100 MW Captive Solar Plant

Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), one of India’s largest integrated renewable energy companies and a subsidiary of Tata Power, has collaborated with Indian Stainless Steel manufacturer – Viraj Profile Private Limited, to set up a 100 MW captive solar plant.

The plant will be developed by Tata Power at Nandgaon at its Nasik site and it will power Viraj Profile Pvt. Limited’s Tarapur Plant. With this, Viraj will become one of the first Stainless Steel Long Products manufacturing companies in India to use Solar Energy to run its manufacturing plant. With the commissioning of this plant, Viraj Profile’s dependability on non-renewable power resources will be reduced by approximately 50%. The project will get commissioned by July 2023.

The plant is also one of the largest captive solar plants in the metals sector, hopefully the first of many to come in the coming months.

TPREL has created a special purpose vehicle (SPV) – TP Nanded Limited, which will undertake the construction, operation and maintenance of this captive solar power plant.

The plant is expected to generate about 200 MUs (Million Units)  of energy and offset approximately 170.43 million Kg of CO2 annually. As per captive generation rules, Tata Power will own 74% of the generation while Viraj Profile Pvt. Ltd will own the remaining 26%. The power generated will be used for captive consumption by Viraj Profile Pvt. Limited’s Tarapur Plant.

“We are pleased to announce the establishment of our new SPV to construct a 100 MW solar power facility for Viraj Profile Private Limited. We believe that this will also inspire other energy-intensive sectors to join the movement for sustainable energy and shift their operations and services to clean energy sources. This project is another step in TPREL’s ongoing efforts to build green and renewable energy solutions throughout India.” said Ashish Khanna, CEO, Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited.

J P Garg, President, Viraj Profiles Pvt.  Limited, said, “We are glad to partner with Tata Power. Our alliance will work as a catalyst in achieving our sustainability goals toward carbon neutrality. Viraj is one of the first stainless steel long products manufacturing companies in India, which will use Solar Energy to run its manufacturing plants and operations. This Solar Power project will supply 50% of our monthly electricity requirement.”  

He added, “The company’s aims to fulfil its energy requirement completely through Green Energy in the next three years. In the first phase, Viraj will get around 100 MW of electricity, and the capacity shall increase over the next couple of years.”

TPREL has been India’s No. 1 Solar Rooftop EPC player for the last eight years. It has a portfolio of more than 9.7 GWp of ground-mount utility-scale solar projects and over 1.2 GW of rooftop and distributed generation projects across the country to date. Tata Power is also one of the largest solar manufacturers in India with a production capacity of 1,135 MW of modules and cells. The company has also recently signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to set up 4 GW solar cell and 4 GW solar module manufacturing plant in the Tirunelveli District.