Thunderstorm on Friday night ripped apart a Rs 100 crore solar power plant installed here at Nangla village.

According to an official of Acme Cleantech Solutions Ltd, who owns the plant, the thunderstorm damaged nearly 60% of the solar panels installed in this power plant.

The plant in Nangla village is spread over 75 acres of land and produces 15 MW of electricity. The company runs about five solar power plants in Mansa installed at Jhunir, Nangla, Khera Khurd, Maan Khera and Jhanda Kalan villages.

Project head of the company Pankaj Rungta said that it was not the first occasion when they had to face such situation.

“Thunderstorm had last occurred in May this year. Then also we had faced some trouble but the loss was not of this magnitude. The panels which are installed at a taller height have more chances of being uprooted during strong winds. Although, it can withstand a velocity of 110 kmph.

‘‘However yesterday the winds were very strong and within a few hours it was all gone. We are not sure whether the uprooted solar panels can be reused or not.

‘‘More than that our agreement with PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited) will also be affected now and we will have to bear a huge monetary loss which runs into crores. The risk assessment team can only tell us about the actual loss,” said another company official.

The company has stopped the production in its Nangla unit as even the labourers were seen leaving the power plant due to an uneven weather.

However, no such damage was faced by other solar power plants in the district. The company official said that at other plants, the solar panels were installed at a lower height which enables them to withstand heavy storm and strong winds.

In the Nangla village, there were about 10-15 houses where either boundary walls or rooftop had collapsed due to the thunderstorm.

Source – HT