Bhel to build world’s biggest solar plant near Jaipur

New Delhi, Sept 22 – On a day US president Barrack Obama announced major steps to choke use of coal for producing electricity, the UPA government on Friday unveiled its biggest green dream of building the world's biggest solar power project with a capacity of 4,000 mw.

 

The project will be built on 23,000 acres of land belonging to Sambhar Salts Ltd, a subsidiary of central enterprise Hindustan Salts Ltd under the department of heavy industries, some 75 km from Jaipur. State-run power gear maker Bhel would build the project's first phase of 1,000 mw in consortium with Solar Energy Corporation, Power Grid Corporation, SJVN, SSL and Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Ltd.

 

The first phase of the project is to be operational by 2016. Once all the phases are completed, the project would generate 6,000 million units of electricity annually. The project is expected to set a trend for mega-scale solar power development in the country in lines of ultra-mega power projects for coal-fired plants that was launched to quickly ramp up generation capacity in the country.

 

India has a different view on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than the West and is working on ways to increase the share of renewable, especially solar, in its total energy basket, but tariff remains an issue. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission aims to have about 20,000 mw of grid-connected solar power by 2022. 

 

TOI, TNN