MPUVN hosts Business Meet in Bhopal on solar PV and CST for industrial applications.

Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) and Madhya Pradesh Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation Ltd. (MP TRIFAC), today organized a Business Meet on Concentrated Solar Thermal Technologies (CST) and Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV).

Supported by UNIDO and the World Bank, this Business Meet was a call for industry and commercial institutions to install CST and SPV to save fossil fuels, reduce carbon footprint and make savings. The purpose of this meet was to bring to fore the economically viable solar technologies, like CST and SPV via the RESCO route, which are being further supported by substantial policy boost by the state government. The meeting was attended by a number of delegates from industries and chambers of commerce from in and around Bhopal.

The meet was held at Bhopal’s Jehan Numa Palace hotel.  The welcome address was delivered by Mr. Puneet Gujral, Superintending Engineer, MPUVN followed by Mr. Vivek Porwal, Managing Director, TRIFAC who delivered the plenary address. This was followed by remarks by UNIDO India representative Mr. Rene Van Berkel, who spoke on the importance of transitioning to renewable energy sources.

Dr. Anil Misra, National Project Manager, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) shared a presentation on the MNRE-GEF-UNIDO project. This was followed by a presentation on the upcoming MPUVN Rooftop Solar PV tender under the RESCO Model by Mr. Nimish Vora of PWC.

Delegates included industry representatives from Bhopal, Mandi Deep and Chhindwara among other cities. The attending delegates were showcased CST technologies that track the sun’s incoming radiation with mirror fields/lenses and concentrate the energy. They provide steam or hot water for industrial processes or may be indirectly used for even cooling. The industry was quite interested in understanding the economic viability and gaining the information about payback period. The experts informed that wherever CST offsets diesel, gas or furnace oil, the project payback ranges from 3–4 years, while the payback may be slightly higher (5–7 years) where the industry uses biomass, coal or wood. The industries were informed about capital subsidy @ 30% provided by MNRE, GoI, 45% loan from IREDA and interest subvention of 5% by UNIDO.

They were also taken through the salient features of SPV projects. The SPV involves setting up of solar panels to generate electricity. If implemented through the RESCO mode, it requires no capital investment whatsoever from industry and the industry can get power at much lower rates than the present grid rate. MPUVN has identified more than 550 project sites, adding to 28 MWp rooftop capacity for its ongoing RESCO tender, which is the first batch of several such tenders. It is continuously identifying more project sites and undertaking preliminary diligence, to be included in the present and subsequent batches of RESCO tenders in the state. Industries from Bhopal can join in the same. World Bank and Asian Development Bank have stapled their highly concessional line of lending for the winning contractor through SBI and PNB respectively at around 8.5% per annum, which is approximately 4% less than the commercial lending rate of SBI which is about 12.5%. This is expected to bring down the rate of power supply under RESCO mode.

On the agenda were technical sessions on: Highlights of the UNIDO-IREDA Scheme, Experience of Technologies, Case studies for Process Heating/Cooling Applications and Existing and New Users Using or Adopting CST Systems. This was followed by a moderated discussion with the participants. The event was targeted at representatives from key industries such as: Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Tobacco, Breweries and Distilleries, Paper & Pulp, Electroplating, Food Processing, Rubber (vulcanization), Chemical & Fertilizers, Paint & Polish, Petroleum refineries, Cement and Steel, medical equipment, Hospitality, Retail, Automobile and others requiring tertiary steam & cooling.

In earlier business meets held in Gwalior and Indore, many industries came forward to submit expression of Interest (EoI) for both CST Systems and SPV Systems

The next business meet is scheduled to take place in Satna on July 2^nd.