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ENGIE Commissions 200 MW Raghanesda Solar Project
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NGIE has announced the commissioning of a 200 MWAC (290 MWp) Solar Power Project at the Raghanesda Solar Power Park, in Raghanesda, Gujarat. ENGIE collaborated with multiple Government of Gujarat entities to construct the project that will generate close to 546 gigawatt-hours of electricity. The project was won under a tender process run by GUVNL and the Power Purchase Agreement for 25 years was signed in August 2019 with GUVNL (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited), and the Implementation Support Agreement was signed in October 2019 with GPCL (Gujarat Power Corporation Limited). Debt for the project has been secured under a long-term project financing
arrangement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Societe Generale. The project has been implemented through an Electro Solaire Private Limited (ESPL), a special purpose vehicle owned by the ENGIE Group. Modules were sourced from Jinko and Longi and String while inverters were procured from Huawei. Sterling & Wilson were the Balance of Plant contractor and will also be the O&M provider for this project for a period of five years. The project was completed in 14 months, adhering to the environment standard of ADB Safeguard Principle and Equator Principle, with 1.5 million+ safe man-hours by over 800 skilled and unskilled manpower setting up the plant, which is spread across 380 hectares inside the Raghanesda Solar
Park that has been developed by a Gujarat state entity – GPCL. Despite the challenges of executing a project during a global pandemic, a very high-water table creating a challenging design and implementation issue for the module mounting structures, and the project being situated in a seismic zone, the team of experts ensured the completion of the project in line with the schedule. With this project, ENGIE’s portfolio developed in India now stands at 17 projects with over 1.1 GWp of solar PV and 280 MW of wind power. This milestone reiterates ENGIE’s ambition to be a major renewable energy provider, as India becomes a rapidly growing market in the transition to clean energy.
100 GW Renewable Energy Milestone Achieved, Much Work Ahead In India
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n self-congratulatory messages sent out yesterday, Power Minister R.K. Singh highlighted the key milestone of 100 GW of renewable energy capacity, excluding large Hydro, that has been reached in India. After including large Hydro, the number goes right up to 146 GW. According to India's power ministry, India now stands at fourth position after China, the USA, and Japan in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. Fifth in solar and Fourth in wind in terms of installed capacity. While 100 GW has been installed, 50 GW is under installation and 27 GW is under tendering according to records. With a 450 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030, the milestone on the road to 450 GW should be welcomed, for the huge achievement it undoubtedly is. There is zero doubt that if the
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country had been provided with this possibility even a decade ago when it set a target of 20 GW of solar by now, it would have been considered preposterous. But falling solar prices, a concerted effort to clear the way for their installation, and the natural evolution of the market have made the number possible today. Dr Ajay Mathur, Director, International Solar Alliance
SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL AU GU ST 2 02 1 SAURENERGY .C O M
had this to say. "A huge accomplishment ! And India has gone from 10 GW to 100 GW in just 15years, between 2005 and 2021. It highlights the success that is achieved with simultaneous, strengthening availability of both equity and debt, of human and organizational capacity in the solar, financial and policy sectors, and of continuously tweaking business models in
light of advances in solar technologies, investments, and markets". Along the way, the country has learned some hard lessons on the challenges ahead, along with a precious experience that could open up bigger opportunities providing power-related services to the world as far as renewable energy goes. One of the biggest outcomes has been the current push to make in India, as the country tries to reclaim a key role as a solar equipment manufacturer too, something that was ceded to China almost completely over the past decade. Repeated across multiple countries, in fact. That dependence is considered too risky today, especially with a significant road to be covered on the road to an energy system that is not only electrically driven but mostly renewable energy powered by 2050 or 2060 at most.
