After Rajasthan, Centre plans solar, wind power projects in Gujarat

The Government is looking to set up a mix of wind and solar energy-based power projects near Sanand, Gujarat.

This was indicated by the Ministries of Heavy Industry and New & Renewable Energy here on Wednesday.

Heavy Industry Minister Praful Patel said, “Hindustan Salt has 20,000 acres land in the State where this project is proposed.”

He was presiding over Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing event among six Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) for setting up the Sambhar Ultra Mega Solar Power Project in Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan project is considered one of the largest single location solar projects in the world with a capacity of 4,000 MW to be developed in phases over a seven-year period.

In the first phase (in next two-three years) 1,000 MW capacity will be developed.

The project will come up on 19,000 acres provided by Sambhar Salts Ltd (a subsidiary of Hindustan Salts Ltd), BHEL will provide the equipment, Power Grid will evacuate power, sale of electricity will be done by Solar Energy Corporation Ltd, and Rajasthan Electronic and Instrument Ltd will take care for the operation and management.

Once operational the entire project will be managed by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd. Investment in the first phase will be ₹7,500 crore.

This project will generate 6,400 million units power and is expected to reduce carbon footprints by over 4 million tonne annually.

Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said this project is critical to attain the country’s target of 20,000 MW solar power capacity by 2022.

Till now 2,700 MW capacity has been installed. There are two key resources for a solar power project – high level of solar radiation and huge area of land – and Rajasthan has both.

According to the Bureau of Investment Promotion of Rajasthan, the State is uniquely placed to tap solar radiations with 300-330 clear sunny days and average daily solar incidence of 5-7 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day that is comparable to Deserts of California, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona.