The project was awarded under the 2 GW Ninth Tranche of the national solar tender issued by the government company Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI).
“This new tender award is testament to Enel Green Power’s continuous commitment to expand its clean, sustainable energy footprint, with the aim to move forward along the Enel Group’s path towards full decarbonization,” said Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power. “India represents an important market in a strategic geography for our company, as it boasts a wealth of renewable resources and a highly competitive environment coupled with growing energy demand. We are proud to strengthen our presence in India with our first solar project, as we continue to contribute to the achievement of the country’s sustainable energy goals, while providing clean energy with the most innovative technologies.”
The construction of the solar plant, which is expected to start operations at the end of 2021, will involve an investment of approximately 180 million US dollars. Under the energy supply contract to be assigned to EGP pursuant to today’s tender, the solar project will supply specified volumes of energy over a 25-year period to SECI. The facility will be able to generate more than 750 GWh of renewable energy per year, enough to avoid the annual emission of around 681,600 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
The project awarded in the tender will help the Indian government meet its renewable energy goals, on its path to achieving 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind power generation capacity by 2022, up from around 35 GW of solar and about 38 GW of wind as of today.
Enel Green Power, through EGP India, one of India’s leading renewable energy companies, owns and operates 172 MW of wind capacity producing around 340 GWh per year in Gujarat and Maharashtra.