Tata Power commissions India’s largest solar carport for Tata Motors

Tata Power today announced the commissioning of India’s largest grid-synchronized, behind-the-meter solar carport at the Tata Motors plant in Chikhali, Pune, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The 6.2MWp solar carport deployed by Tata Power will generate 86.4 lakh kWh of electricity per year and is estimated to reduce 7,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and 1.6 lakh tons over its lifecycle. 

Spanning over 30,000 square meters, the carport will generate green power and provide covered parking for finished cars in the plant.

Tata Motors envisioned the plant as part of its net-zero carbon goal for 2039. It had entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tata Power in August last year. Despite the challenges brought by Covid-19, both companies successfully managed to develop this massive carport infrastructure in a record time of 9.5 months. 

Speaking on the occasion, Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “We have always been conscious of the need to conserve energy and are committed to achieving 100% renewable energy source for all our operations. Our partnership with Tata Power to deploy India’s largest solar carport at our car plant in Pune is a step in that direction.”

“As One Tata initiative, we are proud to partner with Tata Motors and inaugurate India’s largest solar carport. Our partnership is a testament to our collective efforts to lower the carbon footprint and provide innovative and future-focused green energy solutions. We will continue to explore new ways to harness clean resources and offer them to our partners and customers,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, Tata Power. 

Being a signatory of the RE100, Tata Motors is committed to using 100% renewable power and has taken several strides towards achieving this goal by progressively increasing the proportion of renewable energy used in its operations. In FY20, the company generated 88.71 million kWh of renewable electricity, which is over 21% of its total power consumption (up from 16% in FY19). This helped prevent the equivalent of 72,739 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The company further intends to source renewable energy more rigorously to meet its aspiration of sourcing 100% renewable energy by 2030. 

Tata Power has executed multiple large solar solutions, including the world’s largest rooftop solar plant (16 MW) at a single location at Radhasoami Satsang Beas in Amritsar, 2.67MW at Cochin International Airport, the world’s largest solar-powered cricket stadium for Cricket Club of India (CCI) with 820.8 kWp capacity; unique vertical solar farm (120 kW) for Dell Technologies in Bangalore, and 1.4MW floating solar at Tata Chemicals, Nellore.