India’s Largest Solar Park Begins To Come Online
Originally published on CleanTechies.
A part of India’s largest solar park is now operational in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
ABB India announced that it commissioned 5 substations to connect the 648 MW solar park to the national grid. The park is being developed by Adani Group. Of the total 648 MW of capacity, 360 MW has now been connected to the grid.
Even with this partial commissioning, the project has become the largest solar park in India. India’s first solar park, which includes smaller projects from various project developers, is located in Charanka district, Gujarat. The current capacity of the Charanka power plant stands at 345 MW.
The Kamuthi solar park in Tamil Nadu will be spread across 5 different solar projects. Power generated from the park will be sold to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation through a long-term power purchase agreement with a duration of 25 years. Adani Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Tamil Nadu to set up the solar power park in 2015.
The electricity from the park is expected to be sold at Rs 7.01/kWh (US¢10.0/kWh), which represents a huge premium to the tariffs discovered in the recently concluded solar power auctions. Bids by Indian project developers seem to have stabilized around Rs 4.70/kWh (US$7.00/kWh).
Adani Group has announced very ambitious plans to set up large solar projects. The company entered into an agreement with the state government of Rajasthan to set up a 10 GW solar park, with the entire capacity expected to be based on photovoltaic technology. Adani Green Energy also confirmed interest in acquiring SunEdison India’s projects.
Reprinted with permission.
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Only the part of park which was completed and connected to the grid by March 2016 (260 MW) qualifies for 7.01 rupees. The remaining 388 MW would get the new rate of 5.05. Hence the average for the park would be something like 5.8 rupees (8.5 cents).
Another site reported that ground was broken on this project in 2015. This is good going by any standards. India’s solar industry has matured at an astonishing rate.
Good beginning.Keep it up.