Green energy corporation to lease barren land for solar

CHENNAI: In a move to address the paucity of land for solar projects and meet the state’s Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) targets, the Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Limited (TNGECL) has decided to lease barren and unused agricultural lands from farmers for installation of decentralised, grid-connected and ground-mounted solar power plants.

A senior TNGECL official told TNIE, “We plan to take land under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme. For the planned solar panel capacity of 420 MW, we will need around 1,300 acres of land.” In the first phase, the corporation had already installed solar plants with a capacity of 3 MW in Ranipet and Vellore districts.