Tata Power Solar has landed what it claims to be India’s largest single solar EPC order of 1GW for roughly INR5500 crore (US$715 million) from Indian state-owned utility SJVN Ltd.
The project will use Indian cells and modules and is being developed under the country’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) scheme.
The CPSU was designed to establish solar projects using domestic cells and modules in a “WTO compliant manner” and runs until 2023, with the government of India funding up to INR70 lakhs/MW (US$90,000/MW).
Located in the solar hotspot state of Rajasthan, where Tata Power has recently commissioned a 160MW solar farm, the project will be completed within two years and will cover more than 5,000 acres of land, Tata Power Solar said.
“We are proud to have won this mega solar project from SJVN. Implementation of such a large project reflects our commitment to the promotion of clean and green energy in the country and strengthens our position as the leading solar EPC player,” said Tata Power CEO Praveer Sinha.
Following the deal with SJVN, the company’s order booking has surpassed INR12,000 crore (US$1.5 billion) with a cumulative portfolio of more than 9.3GW for utility scale renewables projects.
In April, Tata Power announced that it had commissioned a 300MW solar project in the Indian state of Gujarat, which it claimed was the country’s largest single-axis solar tracker system. Later in the month, a consortium led by private equity giant BlackRock Real Assets acquired a 10.53% stake in Tata Power Renewables through a INR4,000 crore (US$525 million) investment, with the funds used to support its target of reaching 20GW of renewables in the next five years.
Parent company Tata Power is a stalwart of India’s solar sector, having nearly 2.5GW of solar PV online in the country and operating at both ends of the value chain.
In February, it stated its aim to take advantage of India’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme and other policy mechanisms as it sets up new cell and module manufacturing capacity in the country. Tata Power Solar did not disclose where it intends to procure the cells and modules for the project from.