TEDA invites bid for solar plant at Irumbai village

After the announcement to develop Irumbai into a model solar village in 2015, TEDA has invited bids for setting up a 170-kilo watt grid-connected solar power plant without battery to supply power to the village.

Irumbai is a village located between Auroville and Tindivanam highway with over 60 families living there. The state government through a GO dated October 30, 2015, had sanctioned a pilot project for the installation of 170-kilowatt grid-connected solar power plant at Irumbai of Vanur Taluk for uninterrupted electricity scheme under state innovation fund at a cost of Rs 2 crore.

The project would demonstrate that rural areas can be provided with 24X7 uninterrupted electricity in a sustainable manner. “It will, therefore, act as a model that can be implemented on a large scale. This 170 kW solar power plant will operate only during daytime for eight hrs per day and 300 days per annum,” TEDA said, inviting bids for tender on design, supply, installation, commissioning and 15 years operation and maintenance of grid-tied ground-mounted solar power plant.

S Sankara Narayanan,general manager, TEDA said that once the contract is awarded the solar plant could be installed in 15 days but the civil works building of a small room and fence would take some time.

“Even after the solar power plant is installed, the village will remain connected to the Tangedco grid and excess power generated from the solar plant would be supplied to the grid. We have decided to install a 170 kW plant which is two times the village power demand of the Irumbai village,” he said, adding that they had already installed energy-efficient appliances like LED bulbs and fans in the village households.