Six PSUs join hands for world’s biggest solar power plant

As many as six PSUs including BHEL, Power Grid and others have come together to set up a 4,000-MW “ultra mega” solar power project in Rajasthan, expected to be the world’s largest.

As many as six PSUs including BHEL, Power Grid and others have come together to set up a 4,000-MW “ultra mega” solar power project in Rajasthan, expected to be the world’s largest.

An agreement for this project was signed on Wednesday and cabinet approval will be sought shortly, minister of heavy industries and public enterprises Praful Patel said on Wednesday.

The minister said the project will be the largest single location solar plant spread across 19,000 acres of land at Sambhar in Rajasthan.

“It envisages an investment of Rs 7,500 crore in the first phase,” chairman and managing director of BHEL BP Rao said in New Delhi.

The department of heavy industry would set up a joint venture (JV) company for executing this project. The JV company will have equity participation of 26% from BHEL, 23% from SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India), 16% each from SSL (Sambhar Salt Ltd), Power Grid, SJVNL (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam) and 3% from REIL (Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited).

The project will be developed in different phases in seven to eight years. The first phase of 1,000 MW is planned to be set up in about three years. The other 3,000 MW will be set up in subsequent phases. With an estimated plant life of 25 years, 4,000 MW of the solar plant is expected to supply 6,400 million units of energy per year and help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 4 million tonnes per year.

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