National: While the Government of India has achieved 100 percent electrification under the Subhagya Scheme, communities in Indian states, especially Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, still have unreliable power supply and these communities 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, will 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 the remote and small village of Ratnapur, Uttar Pradesh, on November 26, 2020, coinciding with its first anniversary.
This 30kW 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 24x7 power supply to the community.
With the commissioning of the Ratnapur project, the total installed capacity of TPRMG’s solar microgrid projects stands at 3MW. The company took 10 months to commission its first 100th microgrid in spite of COVID-19 restrictions; however, the company is now focusing on commissioning its next 100th microgrid in less than 4 months’ time. Currently, there are around 50 projects which are in various stages of project execution.
“We are extremely proud of this achievement. It is a huge milestone for us to be able to commission our 100th microgrid in 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 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 livelihoods and bringing about socio-economic development of the community as a whole,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, Tata Power.
The company has laid special focus on the replacement of diesel-operated irrigation pumps with electricity-operated motors and pumps powered by solar microgrids. Similarly, diesel-operated machines such as the local atta chakki, oil expeller, rice huller, etc shall also be replaced with electric ones.
