2.65 lakh houses are lit up every day from energy generated by Adani's Kamudhi solar plant

KAMUDHI: Every day nearly 2.65 lakh houses are lit up with the green energy generated by the 648 MW Adani Solar Power Plant at Kamudhi, the world's largest single-location solar power project.

In a recent field visit to the solar plant, station head R Aravamudhan said that on average the plant generates 30 lakh units a day. "Since its commissioning in 2016, the solar plant has generated about 840 crore units and it helped avoid about 77 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, " he said.

The solar power plant is spread over 2,500 acres of land comprising 25 lakh solar modules, he said, adding that if one travels through the plant's periphery, it will be 64 km long.

Aravamudhan said that their solar power plant has a plant load factor of 19 per cent as against 17 per cent PLF recorded by other plants elsewhere. "Once or twice a year in February, they have recorded a peak generation of 648 MW. February is when the solar power plant generates at its optimum level in Tamil Nadu considering the cooler weather and high solar irradiation, " he said, adding that the solar module generates electricity using solar irradiation (light).

"The generation efficiency of the module depends on the amount of light and temperature. If the temperature goes up, the generation goes down, " he said.

On the issue of local people's complaints over the usage of water to clean the solar panels, he said that the modules are cleaned once a month for seven months a year. "During the monsoon period, there is no need for cleaning the panels, " he said, adding that they would be using 300 ml of water for cleaning a module using a pressure sprinkler. "Water is sourced from the pond inside the premises, " he said.