Tata Power builds 300 MW hybrid wind-solar project in India

From pv magazine India

India's largest energy provider, Tata Power, was awarded a contract by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) to set up a 300 MW wind-solar hybrid power plant.

The project, which was secured by the company through an auction held by MSEDCL, is set for commissioning within 18 months from the date of power purchase agreement (PPA) execution.

With this, the total renewable capacity of Tata Power will reach 4,907 MW, including 2,953MW of installed capacity and 1,954 MW under implementation.

“It is a proud moment for Tata Power to win this large-scale hybrid (wind and solar) power generation project,” Tata Power CEO, Praveer Sinha, said in a statement. “This will further promote the share of renewable power in the overall energy mix, thus strengthening our position as the market leader in the renewable space. It will also encourage other states to switch to green power to usher in an era of clean energy in the country.”

According to a recent report by JMK Research and Climate Trends, the total wind-solar hybrid capacity in India could increase by almost 80 times from currently only 148 MW to 11.6 GW by 2023. The tenders held by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for wind-solar hybrid projects without storage have so far attracted low tariffs of INR2.67/kWh (US¢3.7/kWh), which are comparable to plain solar tariffs.

In another report, JMK Research and Climate Trends found that the levelized cost of electricity generation for a hypothetical hybrid solar-wind-lithium-ion battery storage system for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is currently INR 4.97/kWh ($0.068/kWh) and is expected to fall to INR 3.4/kWh by 2030. In comparison, the cost of electricity produced from new coal power plants in Tamil Nadu is between INR 4.5-6/kWh.