Tata Power Subsidiary TPMRG Commissions 100th Solar Microgrid in UP

TPRMG, a 100 percent subsidiary of Tata Power, has commissioned its 100th solar microgrid project in Ratnapur, Uttar Pradesh (UP)

While the Government of India has achieved 100 percent electrification under the Saubhagya scheme, communities in Indian states, especially, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh still have unreliable power supply and face unscheduled power cuts. Many of the micro-enterprises still use non-grid sources of electricity to run their machines such as atta chakki, oil expellers, etc. To bridge this gap, TP Renewable Microgrid (TPRMG), a 100 percent subsidiary of Tata Power shall provide a cheap and reliable power supply through an off-grid AC Microgrid solution. TPRMG announced that it has commissioned its 100th Solar Microgrid project in a remote and small village of Ratnapur, Uttar Pradesh on November 26, 2020, coinciding with its first anniversary.

In November 2019, Tata Power had announced creating an arm, TPRMG, to set up 10,000 microgrids to provide power to 5 million homes across India.

This 30 kW Microgrid project harnesses energy from the sun using solar panels. The microgrid has a battery as an energy storage system. For the back-up power supply, a DG-set has been installed in the Microgrid itself, enabling a 24×7 power supply to the community.

“We are extremely proud of this achievement. It is a huge milestone for us to be able to commission our 100th Microgrid within less than a year. This also marks TPRMG’s first anniversary. Through our off-grid solutions like solar microgrids, we wish to help rural communities in India to meet their urgent power needs in a quick and economical manner. This project will not only provide reliable power supply to the villages but also work towards improving the livelihood and bring about socio-economic development of the community as a whole,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, Tata Power Company Limited.

With the commissioning of Ratnapur project, the total installed capacity of TPRMG’s solar microgrid projects stands at 3 MW. The company took 10 months to commission its first hundred microgrids in spite of COVID-19 restrictions, however, it is now focusing on commissioning its next hundred in less than 4 months’ time. Currently, there are around 50 projects which are in various stages of project execution.

The company has laid a special focus on the replacement of diesel operated irrigation pump with an electric operated motor and pump powered by the solar microgrid. Similarly, the diesel-operated machines such as the local atta chakki, oil expeller, rice huller, etc. shall also be replaced with electric supply.

In September, we had reported that TPRMG is expected to complete the installation work of 200 microgrids and make them ready for use by next year. The claim was made by the Rockefeller Foundation — a partner in the clean energy project.

pc: TPRMG