Bhopal, January 2: The Madhya Pradesh government will this month float global tenders to select a developer for the ultra-mega solar power plant to come up in Rewa district, a top official said on Friday.
The 750-MW solar power station, which will be spread over nearly 1,500 hectares, will be the world’s largest solar power plant at a single location. The project, which will be completed in phases, is expected to start generating solar energy by 2017.
“The global tenders for commissioning the ultra-mega solar power project will be out this month, and the government already has 80% of land required for the project,” state principal secretary (new and renewable energy) Manu Shrivastava has said.
The solar power station is being set up at Bandwar region in Gudh tehsil of Rewa. The project is a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and MP Urja Vikas Nigam.
According to government officials, the project is coming up on barren land and 1 MW power generation requires about 2 hectares land.
The plant will be built at an estimated cost of `4,000 crore in phases. The government expects the electricity tariff to be around `5 per unit.
Madhya Pradesh has drawn up an ambitious plan to increase its solar power capacity three-fold — to 2 gigawatts (2,000 MW) from the current 654 MW — over the next two years.
In terms of solar power generation capacity, Madhya Pradesh ranks third in the country behind Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The state is endowed with high solar radiation with around 300 days of clear sun and offers good sites with potential for installation of solar based projects.
The state government has also introduced a single window clearance for solar technology parks for speedy implementation of the projects.
Ultra-mega solar power projects have been planned in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. On an average 1 MW of solar photovoltaic power project generates about 1.6 million units of electricity per annum.
The world’s largest solar power station — Ivanpah solar power facility of 392 MW — is at Mojave desert in California.
