3,000 MW OF SUN FOR GUJARAT, INDIA

India’s Gujarat to Give Contracts for Solar Project
Abhay Singh, September 18, 2009 (Bloomberg News)

"Contracts to build the world’s largest solar power facility in India’s Gujarat state, valued at $10 billion and backed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, will be awarded by January…

"The 3,000 megawatt project will get help with logistics and finding financing from the William J. Clinton Foundation, a charitable group started by the former president, said S. Jagdeesan, principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals in the government of Gujarat. The foundation and the Gujarat government signed a preliminary agreement on Sept. 8…"

Looks like India is on its way to a higher grade this year. (click to enlarge)

"…The project may be developed on 10,000 hectares of land spread across three locations within an area of 150 square kilometers (58 square miles) in Gujarat. India has joined China in trying to reduce emissions and dependence on coal by betting on alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. The Indian government is working on a National Solar Mission that envisages putting up 20,000 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2020.

"India receives the equivalent of 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of solar energy a year…At present, the country has just 2.1 megawatts of installed solar power capacity…First Solar Inc., a U.S.-based renewable energy company, announced this month it will build a 2,000-megawatt solar plant in China. One megawatt is sufficient to power a 10-storey office building."

click to enlarge

"The Clinton Climate Initiative, a part of the foundation, will help identify manufacturers of solar thermal equipment, which uses the sun’s rays to heat a medium such as water to turn turbines. The manufacturers will be selected in three to four months…The Gujarat government will set up the so-called solar parks in special economic zones and encourage equipment suppliers to set up manufacturing facilities close to the generation site to reduce costs…The project will take a minimum of five years to develop and the Gujarat government hopes to get cheap financing from multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank…[Gujarat] may include hybrid plants in the project that use both solar energy and natural gas to generate power…

"The Gujarat government, headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has taken the lead among Indian states in promoting solar power. It has allotted 716 megawatts of solar generation capacity to 34 Indian and international developers, apart from the Clinton Foundation-backed plan…"