India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dedicated a 750 MW solar power plant project – set up at Rewa, in the state of Madhya Pradesh — to the nation.
The solar power project in Rewa consists of three solar power generating units, each having a capacity of 250 MW and each located on a 500 hectare plot of land, which are situated inside a Solar Park.
Rewa Ultra Mega Solar (RUMSL), a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Madhya Pradesh UrjaVikas Nigam (MPUVN), has developed the solar project.
India government has provided Rs 138 crore to RUMSL for the development of the solar park.
RUMSL selected ACME Jaipur Solar Power, Mahindra Renewables, and Arinsun Clean Energy, through reverse auction for developing three solar generating units inside the solar park.
It is India’s first such solar project to break the grid parity barrier. In comparison to the tariffs of prevailing solar project in early 2017 of around Rs 4.50 per unit, the solar project in Rewa achieved the first year tariff of Rs 2.97 per unit. It showed a tariff escalation of Rs 0.05 per unit over the period 15 years and a levelized rate of Rs 3.30 per unit over a period of 25 years.
The Rewa solar power project is expected to reduce carbon emission equivalent to around 15 lakh tons of CO2 per year.
India aims to achieve target of 175 GW installed renewable energy capacity by 2022. This includes 100 GW of solar installed capacity.
It is the first renewable energy project to supply energy to an institutional customer outside the state. Delhi Metro will get 24 percent of energy, while 76 percent of energy will be supplied to the state DISCOMs of Madhya Pradesh.