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India: 200 MW PV park inaugurated; 600 MW commissioned

At the inauguration of the Charanka solar park in India, photovoltaic projects worth 604.89 megawatts (MW) were handed commissioning certificates by Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. In related news, 50 MW of photovoltaic projects have been approved under the Karnataka state solar policy.

Gujarat's Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, inaugurated the 200 MW photovoltaic park.

Gujarat Solar Park

The around 200 MW Charanka solar park, located in the Patan district of northern Gujarat, is now fully operational, Bridge to India tells pv magazine. Overall, the thin film project is expected to reach 500 MW by 2014.

At the inauguration ceremony, Chief Minister, Narendra Modi also presented commissioning certificates to projects worth 604.89 MW under the Gujarat Solar Policy. The projects have already been completed, but due to a lack of transmission infrastructure in the state, they could not be grid connected until now. More details on the individual projects will be available tomorrow.

Also at the ceremony, Naoki Sakai, senior energy specialist from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that US$500million would be made available to the Gujarat Government. The funds are expected to go towards research and development of solar, vocational training with the Pandit Deen Dayal Petroleum University, and the development of smart grids and a second solar park in Gujarat.

Peter Haas, U.S. Consul General, from the U.S. Consulate at Mumbai committed a further $0.5 billion dollars to be used for solar and clean energy development in India.

In related news, the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd has approved 50 MW worth of photovoltaic projects under the state’s solar policy. According to Indian solar market consultancy firm, Bridge to India, 10 developers won the solar bidding, which was held in November 2011.

It adds that the lowest bid was Rs. 7.94/KWh (around €0.11/US$0.15), submitted by Helena Power Private Limited, while the highest Rs. 8.50/KWh, was submitted by Welspun Solar AP Private Limited.