Raigad, Jul 21 (IANS): The first 2-MegaWatt solar power plant of the Indian Navy was inaugurated at the IN Karanja Station near Uran in Raigad district on Tuesday, officials said.

Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, inaugurated the advanced plant set up on a sprawling area within the station.

Costing around Rs 14 crore, it is fully indigenous and installed with the help of Indian companies.

With this captive power plant, the Navy hopes to make significant savings of around Rs 3.65 crore per annum in power bills as it will cater to nearly one third of the Karanja Station's annual power needs, said officials.

Besides the indigenous solar panels, tracking tables and inverters, the plant is also grid-interconnected by a state-of-art single-axis sun-tracking technology with computerised monitoring and control.

"The project is a significant step by the Navy towards harnessing solar energy and use of renewable energy for meeting the power requirement of the Naval Station here," said the official.