The solar power park will be developed in three phases at a cost of Rs 259 crore and attract investment of Rs 2,800 crore: Chiman Sapariya.
Gujarat will soon be home to two more solar power parks. The state government, on Thursday, commenced work on a 700 MW Ultra Mega Solar Power project, which will attract Rs2,800 crore investment, while another 500 MW one is also coming up. Both parks will come up in Banaskantha district.
The 700 MW project will be the second solar power park in north Gujarat after Charanka, which had become operational in 2012 and is presently has the solar power generation capacity of 495 MW.
Gujarat was the pioneer state in tapping solar power energy to produce electricity. However, it has been overtaken by states such as Telangana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to be ranked sixth with 1,384 MW solar power capacity.
State energy minister Chiman Sapariya said that the park is spread over 1,407 hectare.
“The park will be developed at a cost of Rs 259 crore, and attract investment of Rs 2,800 crore. The park will be developed in three phases. In the first phase, 250 MW power capacity will become operational by March 2018,” Sapariya said.
The 500 MW solar park will come up at Suigam taluka of Banaskantha. The government has acquired 689 hectare land for the project. Sapariya said the government will spend Rs 185 crore for the park, and it will attract investment of Rs 2,000 crore.
State health minister Shankar Chaudhary, who hails from Banaskantha, said the solar power parks have placed north Gujarat on the global solar map.
Source: dnaindia
