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India’s Gujarit solar park- even bigger than China’s Golmud Solar Park.

Asia’s largest solar field switched on in India, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 19, 2012,   By KATY DAIGLE Bloomberg,  BUSINESSWEEK NEW DELHI The west Indian state of Gujarat is flipping the switch on Asia’s largest solar power field as part of its 600 megawatt solar energy addition to India’s power grid.

The Gujarat Solar Park, spread across a desolate 3,000-acre (1,200-hectare) swath of desert, can supply 214 megawatts of electricity, making it larger than China’s 200-megawatt Golmud Solar Park.

The project gives a serious boost to energy-hungry India’s renewable
energy ambitions. Overall, India wants renewables to account for at
least 15 percent of its energy capacity by 2020, up from 6 percent of
today’s 185 gigawatt capacity.

The new solar park is unique in having 21 companies involved in its
management and development, including four from the United
States…….
Gujarat — which provides 66 percent of India’s solar generating
capacity today — has led the solar drive by setting up an incentive
program and energy policy early and establishing infrastructure
including roads and power connections to the grid. Other states like
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are catching up.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the state is showing a world
mired in climate change problems how to move forward.

“This achievement is not merely a step in the direction of power
conservation, but it provides the world with a vision of how the power
needs of future generations can be solved in an environment-friendly
manner,” he said.

Gujarat has budgeted another $400 million for developing renewable
energy, and plans to encourage rooftop solar panels on homes, he said.

Gujarat first announced plans in 2009 for establishing solar parks,
including Gujarat Solar Park in the northern desert of Patan district.
“Setting this up was easy because this desert land was available,”
with just 1,000 people living in nearby villages, said S.K. Nanda, the
environment chief in Gujarat’s government.

The government has trained more than 100 people to look after the
panels and the park’s security, bringing employment to a desolate
area. “They didn’t have any economic activity before, but now lots of
people will come” and side-businesses like restaurants will appear,
Nanda said.  http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9U82HSG2.htm

April 21, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, renewable