Indian firms build their own solar plants to beat power shortage

Mumbai

FED up with constant electricity cuts and government-enforced "power holidays", Indian IT firm ValueLabs has turned to the sun beaming down on its head office for help.

In July, it finished building a 13 megawatt solar plant - enough to power 6,000 homes - to keep the lights on and computers humming for more than 3,000 employees at its base in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

It is even selling surplus electricity back to the grid. "We plan to use the entire quantum of power generated from these plants in the coming years for our existing and upcoming campus," said Krishna Reddy, a senior ValueLabs executive.

Factories and businesses have installed over 30 MW of rooftop solar panels in the last year, data compiled by New Delhi-based consultancy Bridge To India shows. That is a small amount compared with India's solar capacity of 2,700 MW, but demand may accelerate un…