Gujarat Power Launches Asia's Largest Solar Park

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Indian state of Gujarat is planning to commission a solar energy park in 2013 with the capacity to generate 500 megawatts (MW), which would make it the largest solar power facility in Asia. At the beginning of 2009, Gujarat launched a solar power policy that targeted an installation of 1,000 MW of capacity by 2012 and 3,000 MW by 2014.

The project will require an investment of about $1.8 billion and will see the first 100-MW phase commissioned by the end of 2011. Investment will come from private power development companies, including GMR (Bangalore, India) and Lanco Infratech Limited (BSE:LITL.BO) (Gurgaon, India), and 274 MW of power capacity has been allotted to various companies. The state government also has moved to sign up power purchase agreements totaling 934 MW to date.

In the first phase of the project, 15 solar power generation companies plan to produce 176 MW, while the Gujarat Energy Commission will set up a power pooling station. The project cost of Phase I will be $286 million, which will include $78 million for the cost of land and power infrastructure, and $139 million for the power evacuation facility. About $3.3 million will be invested for every megawatt of power capacity set up for the whole project.

Gujarat Power Corporation (GPC), the state's sectoral nodal agency, is developing the park in the style of an industrial estate on a 2,000-hectare wasteland site bordering the Rann of Kutch seasonal salt marsh in the Patan district. When fully commissioned, the project will supply 800 million units of power.

India's Planning Commission has approved one-off central funding assistance of $47 million for the park's development, and the Asian development Bank (ADB) has approved a soft loan of $100 million for the project that includes the development of a smart grid for the evacuation of power produced. An agreement has been signed with the Clinton Climate Initiative, which will act as the technical consultant.

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