Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (RUVNL), a department of the Rajasthan state government in India, has granted a letter of award to power company SJVN to develop a 100MW solar power project in the state.
SJVN, an Indian power company jointly owned by the national government and the government of the state of Himachal Pradesh, will build the facility in the northern Indian state. The firm expects to spend around R6 billion (US$72 million) on engineering, procurement and construction at the project.
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The company also expects construction work to take 18 months, following the signing of a power purchase agreement between SGEL, a subsidiary of SJVN that will operate the project, and RUVNL, that will set the price of electricity generated at the project at R2.62 (US$0.03)/kWh. The companies expect the project to generate 252GWh of electricity in the first year of its operation, and remain functional for 25 years.
The news follows SJVN’s plans to build and operate a 90MW floating solar project in the state of Madhya Pradesh, as the company looks to expand its renewables portfolio in general, and its solar capacity in particular. The company has just 2.1GW of power capacity currently installed, across solar, wind and hydro projects, but has over 55GW of additional capacity in its development pipeline.
This expansion is part of a wider push towards more large-scale solar installations across India. The government plans to meet half of its electricity demand from renewable sources by the end of this decade, and aims to increase the share of solar in the country’s energy mix from 5% in the 2022 financial year to 25% by the 2032 financial year.
This will require the installation of 364.6GW of capacity by the end of 2032, which would mean India has to increase its annual solar capacity additions by 36% each year between 2022 and 2027, according to think tank Ember.