Solar energy with energy storage comes of age as homebuilders offer it as standardized products
July 11, 2014USA wrong in imposing Anti-dumping duties against China
July 17, 2014Baramati Solar Project
After Gujarat and Rajasthan, Maharashtra is all set to become the next solar hub for India. Welspun Energy plans to construct a 50 MW solar plant called Baramati Solar Project in the Pune district of Maharashtra, under a PPP with Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd (Mahagenco). Welspun has agreed to bear 60% of the project expenses, in return for a 62% of revenue share. Mahagenco will also partly pay the project expenses. The power producer will be fully responsible for part-finance, design and commissioning of this solar power plant.
The Baramati solar plant will be built in two phases. First 36 MW will be installed, followed by the remaining 14 MW. Welspun plans the whole project on a total of 105 hectares of land, out of which 75 hectares of government land is available now. Currently the Indian state of Maharashtra has only 237 MW of solar capacity installed. About two-thirds of the total solar capacity in India belongs to Gujarat and Rajasthan, as per Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Welspun Energy has strong EPC skills and has already commissioned 328 MW (DC) capacity of Solar PV projects on a turnkey basis. Apart from Maharashtra the company is building large capacity solar projects in the states of Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
India is waiting for the Indian Ministry of Finance to decide whether it will impose the anti-dumping duties or not. The fate of India’s solar industry depends on that. After the Indian Department of Commerce’s recommendation to impose anti-dumping duties on solar import, the Indian Solar market is on a stand still. Welspun’s decision to build a solar plant is highly appreciable in this scenario. More and more companies should be encouraged to take such steps so as to strengthen our Indian Solar industry.