SunEdison-Brakes India JV sets up 8MW solar power plant in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Renewable power company SunEdison and TVS Group company Brakes India have set up an 8 megawatt (MW) solar power system at Brakes India's manufacturing unit in Munanjipatti in Tamil Nadu.

SunEdison and Brakes India have formed a joint venture company which owns the power plant.

The solar power plant is among the first in the country to be commissioned without any government subsidy and completely based in economic viability, Pashupathy Gopalan, president of SunEdison Asia-Pacific, said.

It comes as part of the government's Group Captive Scheme which allows power producers to sell power directly to consumers without involving the state's electricity distribution utility.

A group captive power project is one where the power producer and one or a group of buyers comes together to form a joint venture. Such an arrangement helps companies avoid paying cross subsidy charges on the transaction.

Cross subsidy charges are charges levied on such direct sales between a buyer and a power producer, and the funds are used to make up for the losses the state electricity utility makes on giving out subsidies to certain consumers of power.

The plant is expected to generate about 14 million units of power a year, all of which will be purchased by Brakes India.

"Tamil Nadu is going to be power hungry and we will be in trouble if we don't have a source of alternative energy. While there is no cost saving for the company as of now, we have taken a 10-15 year time frame and chose to put up the power plant," S Kesavan, executive director (operations & finance), Brakes India, said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.