750 MW Rewa solar project starts supplying power

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Located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and operated by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd, it is the first solar project in the country to supply power to an inter-state open access customer.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will purchase 24% of the project’s electricity generation, while the state discoms will receive the remaining 76%, according to a statement released by state run Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (MPUVNL).

Spread over 1,590 acres, the Rewa plant is India’s first and, to date, only solar project to receive funding from the Clean Technology Fund, available at a rate of 0.25% for a 40-year period. It is also the first and the only solar park in India to obtain a concessional loan from the World Bank.

The Ministry of Power  granted the status of Regional Generating Station to the project, which was developed by Mahindra Renewables, ACME Solar Holdings and Solengeri Power, which emerged as the bid winners for the three project units.

The project will supply environmentally-friendly power to the state at an extremely low rate of Rs 2.97 per unit, which is even less than its average power procurement cost, the statement continued.

“This opens up an entirely new chapter in utilisation of renewable energy in the country, where large institutional open access consumers can start procuring it inexpensively. The commissioning of this project will potentially result in a saving of Rs 4,600 crore to state discoms and Rs 1,400 crore to DMRC over its project life,” read the statement.

“The bidding for the project was conducted online for as long as the bidders were interested – 33 hours without stop. The project made possible an investment of over Rs 4,000 crore in the state and has started producing power in merely 17 months from the historical bidding in February 2017,” commented Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The environmental impact of the mega Rewa project is equivalent to planting 2.6 crore trees and would lead to avoiding 15.4 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide generation every year.

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