Overview
- The Ministry of Defence announced on June 9 that it has approved a 250 MW solar farm with an integrated Battery Energy Storage System on about 850 acres of vacant defence land at Sitapur.
- State‑owned NTPC Limited has been designated to deliver the project through a competitive bidding process to secure the best long‑term power pricing for defence users.
- The project will be executed in coordination with the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army) and the Directorate General Defence Estates to protect strategic interests during development.
- MoD expects the solar‑plus‑BESS facility to improve local power reliability, cut lifecycle electricity costs for defence installations, and offer stored solar power for dispatch when needed.
- The approval is part of a wider asset‑use drive: the MoD holds about 1.8 million acres of land and has identified roughly 45,906 acres as surplus that could be repurposed for renewables, biogas, afforestation or other revenue‑generating uses.