NLC India Limited

NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) formerly, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited, a Navaratna enterprise of Government of India (GoI) is an existing, profit making, public sector enterprise engaged in mining of lignite and generation of power through lignite based thermal power plants. NLCIL was established by GoI in 1956, following the discovery of lignite deposits in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. NLCIL comes under administrative control of Ministry of Coal, GoI and serves as an important source of power generation to the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Rajasthan and Union Territory of Puducherry.

Harsha Abakus Solar was awarded 100MW (AC) Grid Interactive Solar PV Power Project in Tamil Nadu under the International Competitive Bidding guidelines. The Solar PV Plant got commissioned on 4th May 2018 and has produced 1,67,004 MWh units in the first year of its successful operation.

Facts of the Project

This Project spread across a span of 350 Acres is one of the Prestigious projects by Harsha Abakus Solar as it has answered the challenges in construction, design and many more aspects in a unique way. The team identified a few key challenges during its site visit to the Project location. After assessing the site with the Engineering team and taking in account the area capacity and other parameters, following were the obstacles identified by the team.

Challenges

Engineering & Design Challenges
The design of Pile foundation, Inverter Room foundation was a challenge as the land was having heavy clay soil. Power evacuation was at 110kV voltage level and the Evacuation S/S was located at 17 km from the Project Site. The turnkey engineering solution was developed inhouse only. The complete SCADA (with string monitoring) was over IEC 60870-104 communication protocol, was developed first time in India by a Solar Company.

Project Construction Specific Challenges
Local issues were handled carefully and made sure that all stakeholders were satisfied to ensure smooth working and timely completion.
The transmission line was constructed through a meticulous planning and solid execution as ROW of land was also involved.
Skilled Manpower was not easily available which was impacting the pace of execution.
Non seasonal rains and tropical cyclone slowed down the Project Construction
Managing large workforce on site was a colossal task.

Benefits of The solution Implemented

The key benefits derived out of the solar plant installed are:
110MWp NLCIL Solar PV Plant generated 130 Million units in 9 months of successful operation and will generate nearly 3681 Million units in the life span of 25 years.
State of the art technology and systems are installed ensuring best yield per installed capacity to the NLCIL
The project has given employment opportunities to the local people.
Through the installed plant, NLCIL meets 7% of its total electricity requirements and thus has been able to reduce the impact of its operation on the environment.
NLCIL had taken up these solar projects with the broad view of contributing towards the Green Energy Initiatives of GoI in combating the climate change rather than its business motives.