Essel Group Signs Deal For 5 GW Solar Parks In India

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One of India’s largest industrial conglomerates, Essel Group, has entered into an agreement with the Rajasthan government to set up 5 GW of solar power capacity.

Essel Group and the state government of Rajasthan announced that the two have entered into an agreement to set up a joint venture company that will oversee development of 5 GW of solar power capacity over the next few years. The solar power capacity will be implemented as at least two separate solar parks — at Bikaner and Jaisalmer.

Essel Infraprojects Limited had, in February, pledged to add 12 GW of renewable energy capacity across India by 2022. This included 7.5 GW of solar power capacity, 4 GW of wind energy capacity, and 500 MW of biomass-based power generation capacity. The agreement is part of a larger solar power capacity addition plan of the Rajasthan government that plans to add 25 GW capacity over the next 5 years. When the government announced this ambitious plan it received huge response from industrial groups that pledged to set up as much as 40 GW of solar power capacity.

Some of the leading groups that have pledged to set up solar power capacity in the state include Adani Power (10 GW), Reliance Power (6 GW), SunEdison (5 GW), IL&FS (5 GW), and Azure Power (1 GW).

40 GW capacity represents 41% of the total solar power capacity that India plans to add at the national level over the next 7 years. India’s current installed solar power capacity just over 3 GW; Rajasthan has the second largest contribution to this installed capacity.

Image Credit: Josh Nguyen | CC-BY-SA 2.0