$1.77B solar park to rise in Gujarat

Charanaka in north Gujarat is destined to become the state’s hub of solar power generation. Solar panels will be laid on close to 3,000 acres of land in this village , where the state government is going to set up a ' Gujarat Solar Park . at an investment of US$1.77 billion.


Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd or GUVNL, is currently in the process of entering into long term power purchase with agreements with 80 solar power project investors to commission almost 1,000 MW of generation capacity. This capacity will help procure 1,700 million units of environment friendly electricity per annum.

Many of these 80 developers will set up their generation facilities ranging from 1-45 MW units at Gujarat Solar Park. In first phase, developers will commission 500 MW of generation capacity at the park. The Centre's National Solar Mission aims to install 1,000 MW of grid solar power by 2013, and 20,000 MW by 2022. Interestingly , Gujarat is the lone state which is in the process of inking power purchase agreements to procure 965 MW of solar power from 80 project developers to attract investments of US$3.32 billion in the next couple of years.

The state government has already acquired 2,500 acre of land for the park. It is expected to have basic infrastructure in place by December, just ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, 2011.