The Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka has become fully operational as the world’s largest solar power park. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to share the happy news. Reported to generate 2050 MW of clean energy, the park is located on land leased from farmers, utilizing the drought-hit area & adding to farmers’ income.
Crux of the Matter
Dissecting the India-made Solar Park Pavagada Solar Park covers an area of 53 square kilometres (13,000 acres) in Pavagada taluk, Tumkur district of Karnataka. Being the World’s largest photovoltaic power station, it cost ₹14,800 crores (US$2.1 billion). It is the result of a joint venture by Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
Why Karnataka? Pavagada was chosen as the site for the project due to factors like high solar radiation and the availability of land. The region receives very little rainfall. because it is located in a semi-arid tract, atop an elevated plateau surrounded by rocky hills. It had been declared drought-hit by the Karnataka Government 54 times in the past 6 decades.
India Takes Lead in Clean Energy: World’s largest solar park at Pavagada in Karnataka is now operational. Generating 2050 MW of clean energy, the park is located on land leased from farmers, utilising the drought-hit area & adding to farmers’ income.https://t.co/ScWHPo3pJU pic.twitter.com/NOoIwrefAp — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) January 19, 2020
Perks of the Setup G.V. Balram, the managing director of KREDL, was born in a village in Pavaguda taluk. He understood that farmers in the region were reluctant to sell their land due to emotional reasons. In order to aid in the development of the region and reduce economic migration, Balram offered farmers the option to lease the land required for the project rather than purchase it outright. As many as 2,300 farmers are therefore benefitting from this park set-up done on their lands. India now gives a promising picture of achieving its ambitious renewable energy generation target of 50 GW by 2022.
Curiopedia
Solar power in India is a fast developing industry. The country’s solar installed capacity reached 33.730 GW as of 31 December 2019. India has the lowest capital cost per MW globally to install solar power plants. The Indian government had an initial target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which was achieved four years ahead of schedule. In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022, targeting an investment of US$100 billion. India has established nearly 42 solar parks to make land available to the promoters of solar plants. By the end of September 2019, India has installed more than 82,580 MW of renewable energy capacity with around 31,150 MW of capacity under various stages of installation. More Info
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