ITC commissions first offsite solar plant in TN

The plant has already helped ITC to achieve the “rare feat” of meeting 90% of its electricity requirement from renewable sources in TN, the company said

ITC Limited on Tuesday announced the commissioning of its first offsite solar plant in Dindigul district in southern Tamil Nadu as the company envisages meeting 100 per cent of its electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030.

The 14.9 MW solar plant built at an investment of Rs 76 crores will help reduce CO2 emissions over the course of its lifetime. The plant has already helped ITC to achieve the “rare feat” of meeting 90 per cent of its electricity requirement from renewable sources in Tamil Nadu, the company said.

Set up at an area of 59 acres, the solar plant in Dindigul, 435 km from the state capital Chennai, is built with the latest in solar technology and complies with all national and international standards on design and safety. The unit will generate over 22 million units of renewable energy annually for ITC’s hotels, food manufacturing plants, paper manufacturing facility, and printing and packaging factories in Tamil Nadu.

Southern Tamil Nadu, in the past few years, has emerged as one of the top destinations in the country for solar and other renewable energy projects. Government officials said several top firms in the sector are in talks to invest in the state as renewable energy is touted to be the future.

ITC’s renewable portfolio comprises 138 MW of wind power plants and 14 MW of Solar plants with 53MW of additional solar capacity under execution, while renewable energy powers 20 factories, nine hotels, and six office buildings of ITC in 12 states, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The multi-business conglomerate’s 46MW Wind power plant in Andhra Pradesh supplies power to over 15 ITC establishments in eight states, leading to a higher renewable energy utilization for the company.

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