Adani group has of late signed on some big solar projects (a SunEdison deal and a 10 GW solar park in Rajasthan). Also, the conglomerate recently announced plans to come up with 1 GW of solar PV capacity in the southern states of India.
Moving ahead on its plans, last week, Adani group signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to set up 648 MW of solar PV capacity at Kamuthi in the southern district of Ramanathapuram. The solar park is said to entail an investment of ~$750 million. Southern Tamil Nadu has reasonably high solar insolation (5.6-6.0 kWh/sq.m), with around 300 clear sunny days in a year.
The announced project capacity will be spread over 5 units, which are expected to go into construction by next month and become operational by March 2016.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd will purchase all of the power from the project at a tariff of ₹7.01/kWh (~$0.11/kWh) over 25 years. In order to facilitate evacuation of the solar power, a 400 kW transmission line will be laid between Kamuthi and Ramanathapuram at a cost of ₹4.35 billion (~$72.5 million).
Tamil Nadu unveiled its solar policy in 2012 with a view to generate 3,000 MW of solar power by 2015, and increase the capacity by 1,000 MW every following year.
Tamil Nadu leads Indian states in terms of installed renewable power capacity, but a huge chunk of this capacity comes from wind energy. With ample solar power resources, the state is now looking to replicate the success with wind energy in the solar power sector.
Adani Group has set a goal of 10,000 MW of solar power for itself by 2022.
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