Azure Power, a leader in the Indian solar industry, on December 22, announced that it had signed an MoU with the Government of Rajasthan to develop a 1,000-MW solar power project.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje laid the foundation stone for Azure Power’s 100-MW solar power plant to be commissioned by April 2015. This is the largest capacity project won under the Indian government’s National Solar Mission: Phase-II, taking the company’s total capacity under NSM to 142 MW. It also makes Azure the largest private solar investor in Rajasthan with a total investment capital over Rs. 1,300 crore in Rajasthan.
Spread across 725 acres of land at Hardhani and Nandia Kalan in Jodhpur, the plant will electrify 1,00,000 households and create an estimated 1,500 jobs in the locality. The project is expected to be completed before April 30, 2015.
H.S. Wadhwa, Chairman, Azure Power, said on the occasion, “It is an extremely proud moment for us as we sign the MoU with the Government of Rajasthan and lay the foundation stone of our 100-MW solar power plant. Azure Power has continuously demonstrated its commitment to inclusive growth through clean energy generation and this is a vital next step in further strengthening it.”
He said that Azure Power had been successful in bringing the power cost from Rs. 17 in 2009 to Rs. 5.45 with viability gap funding in 2014, and hoped this trend would continue to achieve grid parity in the near future.
With this, Azure Power as on date has a portfolio of more than 400+ MW under various stages and has the longest operating history of solar power plants across various states in India. The company set the benchmark for the Indian solar industry with the first solar power plant launch in the private sector on a mega scale in Punjab. It also installed India’s first megawatt-scale solar rooftop project at Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat.
