John Wilbert & Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Dec 13: Despite teething problems and several technical hiccups the Electricity Department is presently putting all focus on making the 20 MW solar power project, which was set up at Dollygunj and Attam Pahar area of South Andaman, into a complete success.
As per senior officers of Electricity Department, presently the problem with the 20 MW solar power project is that the immediate response time of the solar plant is very less. When there is bright sunshine the solar power plant generates 20 MW electricity but when cloud comes the supply drops to zero, which shouldn’t happen.
Sources said that presently the Director and Senior Engineers of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) are visiting Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Electricity Department is discussing all the issues with NLC team and trying to sort out the problems.
Andaman Sheekha contacted Mr. the Superintending Engineer, Electricity Department, Er. Ajit Bernard in this regard and questioned whether the 20 MW solar power project of Dollygunj and Attam Pahar is a success or failure. Replying to the question he said that there is no point thinking about success and failure as this project is necessary for Andaman and hence it has to be completed and made fully operational at any cost.
He said that presently Andaman and Nicobar Islands generate nearly 30 MW of solar energy which is used in grid and this saves around 25 KL of diesel everyday, which is a great saving for Andaman.
Insiders told Andaman Sheekha that till now amount spent annually for purchasing diesel, used to be a major portion of Andaman’s Annual Budget but now there is some savings because of the solar plants.
Earlier, Electricity Department through the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India Limited had commissioned the 20 MW solar power project integrated with 8 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at Dollygunj and Attam Pahar on June 30, 2020.
This is one of the first projects in the country that saw solar projects coupled with a battery energy storage system but now the problem is with the 8 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) as batteries have been fixed for all solar panels yet, it is learnt.
At present South Andaman has 20 MWp Solar Power Plant with Battery at Attampahad and Dollygunj, 5 MW Solar Power Plant at Garacharma and 7 MW roof top power panels, which altogether provide around 32 MW power to the grid.
