India's biggest power generator NTPC has a plan to create a 100 mw solar power capacity in spinning mills of Tamil Nadu. The plan is to take this to 500 mw. The country aims to build 15,000 mw of grid-connected solar capacity to raise dependence on solar energy to one lakh mw of output from the current 3,380 mw.
Although there is a substantial adoption of wind power by spinning mills, a larger number still dependen on grid purchases. Besides spinning, there are other nodes in the textile supply chain, such as weaving and garmenting, which would be willing to join the NTPC scheme.
The textile hub of Tamil Nadu boasts 47 per cent of the country's spinning capacity with 2.1 crore spindles. For a 25,000-spindle textile mill, the average power consumption a day works out around 40,000 units a day. A solar plant of about 2 mw capacity can meet this power requirement. Spinning mills have a requirement for about 100 mw, and a potential for 500 mw in the near term, entailing an investment potential of about Rs 2,750 crores.
NTPC is a power plant developer. Entrepreneurs in the southern textile belt feel the idea will solve the energy problem and also offer investors a long-term income.
www.ntpc.co.in/
