Vikram Solar Commissions 200 MW Solar Project in Andhra Pradesh

With more than 800,000 modules, Vikram Solar has announced the commissioning of 200 MW project in Andhra Pradesh for APGENCO.

Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturer and solar EPC player, has successfully commissioned a 200 MW solar power project for Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO). The power generated by the solar plant is expected to power nearly 1,50,000 homes once connected to the grid. The plant, situated in district Anatapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, and is segregated into 2 blocks of 100 MW each for better management and higher efficiency.

The project is spread across 1000 acres (500 acres each for 100 MW) of undulated rocky terrain, with a total of 8,48,680 modules, ranging from 320 wp to 330 wp used for development. The power from the plant will be evacuated at 33 KV level in 2 pooling substations of 33/220 KV capacity, which will further evacuate power to 220/400 KV main substation.

Mr. Kuldeep Jain, COO- EPC, Vikram Solar, said, “At Vikram Solar, we have always been focused towards building capacities to increase our contribution in the Indian solar revolution. We faced many challenges during the execution of this project. Undulated land required boulders/rocks to be excavated from the site. Multiple and yet careful executions of blasting required to reach the desired trench depth for cable placement, and non-availability of natural earth material for backfilling presented engineering challenges.”

“On the other hand, confusion surrounding GST rate applicability impacted cash flows, and implementation of Safeguard delayed delivery of modules. However, meticulous planning and strategy development in engineering and operations helped us in successfully completing the project with an average installation of around 4 MW per day. This is quite a proud moment for us and we hope that this would be just the beginning of a fruitful association between Vikram Solar and APGENCO,” he added.

The project is expected to produce 446 MU of energy annually and will reduce 210 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. The West Bengal-based manufacturer will also carry out a comprehensive Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the plant for a period of 5 years from the date of commissioning.

Bengal based Vikram Solar reportedly has a presence in 6 continents and its annual PV Module production capacity stands at 1 GW.