Veer Energy & Infrastructure Ltd, a Mumbai-based wind power developer, plans to invest Rs 500 crore to augment capacity on its existing projects and also to diversify into solar energy.
The company has successfully completed a 200-Mw wind farm project and another 115-Mw project is currently in pipeline. The firm also plans to launch a 200-Mw of project in Gujarat.
To kickstart its solar foray, Veer Energy has acquired more than 200 acres of land in Kutch, Gujarat, which is just 1.5 km away from its existing sub station at Chandrodi. The Company has collaborated with ASTOM AG Swiss, an expert company in solar energy technologies, to set up a 25-Mw grid-based solar energy project.
Jigar Shah, chief financial officer of Veer Energy, said that the company is also planning a rooftop-based pilot project, for which it has acquired approximately 6,000 sq ft area with marvel height of 35 ft in Sanand, Gujarat. The firm will install about 400 solar panels of 58.5 watts each for which it has tied up with US-based New Millennium Solar Equipment Corporation (NMSEC).
Veer Energy has already imported thin film panels for its pilot project from NMSEC. “With the successful completion of our pilot project, the company would then focus on big league by developing mega projects,” said Shah.
India is perceived as a developing country, but it is developing at a pace not matched by many others. India’s economic growth is constrained by energy supply and availability. Although an impressive increase has been witnessed in installed capacity addition, from 1,350 Mw at the time of Independence to about 160,000 Mw today, about 90,000 Mw of new generation capacity is required in the next seven years. Hence it is important to focus on energy for both wind and solar to meet its growing need.
Gujarat has enormous potential for wind power generation. The average velocity of wind in the state is just less than seven metres per second, which is suitable for wind power generation. Besides, the state has the longest coast-line in the country and a desert in Kutch. This makes land availability easy.
In Maharashtra, investor-friendly policies of the state government and technical viability of demonstration projects have attracted private investment of more than Rs 11,895 crores in the wind sector so far. Nearly 2,309 MW of private wind power projects have been installed in the state up to March 2011.
