SCCL has managed to reduce electricity bills by 35% through the establishment of captive solar power plants in its coal mining area.
Post Date – 11:45 PM, Mon – 2 January 23
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Hyderabad: Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has been at the forefront of reform and innovation and is now striving to set an example in the use of renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions. The company’s transition to renewable energy has not only helped it save huge on electricity bills, it has also helped it reduce its carbon emissions.
SCCL has managed to reduce electricity bills by 35% through the establishment of captive solar power plants in its coal mining area. The company spends around Rs 500 crore annually on electricity, but since its solar farms started generating power, electricity consumption has dropped by nearly Rs 200 crore.
According to NVK Viswanadha Raju, the company’s chief (E&M) power project, the company’s daily electricity consumption is 2 million units, of which 1 MU comes from its captive solar power plant. The company has a total capacity of 219 solar farms at eight locations. This is in addition to the plants with a total capacity of 300 MW planned for the first phase. Through these plants, 1 MU per day is currently being generated, and once the remaining 81 MW of solar plants start generating power, the total daily production will increase to 1.5 MU per day, he said.
“We expect the work on the 81 MU solar power plants to be completed by the end of this year. Once these plants start generating electricity, the company will save close to Rs 2.5 billion in electricity bills,” he said.
Viswanadha Raju said SCCL is proposing to build another 130 MW solar plant in the coal mining area after work on this 81 MU plant is completed and once they start generating power, the company will not have to buy electricity from the power company.
Excess power generated by solar power plants is fed to the grid and utilized or adjusted to consumer electricity prices as needed, he said.
“Our aim is to become a zero-carbon company,” he said, adding that N Sridhar, chairman and managing director of SCCL, plans to expand its existing 2 x 600 MW thermal power plant and another 1,500 MW of solar power. The power plant will add 800 MW units to the mining area.
