Indian PV project developer Welspun Energy has confirmed to PV-Tech that it has commissioned its 50MW solar project in the Indian state of Rajasthan ahead of schedule.
Located in Phalodi Tehsil, Jodhpur district, the project — which the company claims is the largest solar plant in India to date — was developed and commissioned in three stages in just five months.
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In January Welspun announced that the first stage, which involved building a 15MW facility, had been commissioned ahead of schedule. This was followed by two more facilities representing 15MW and 20MW which have also now come online.
The 50MW project has been designed to accommodate different solar technologies, which provides Welspun Energy with the opportunity to source modules from multiple suppliers. The company confirmed that the project uses PV thin film technology and the modules were sourced from manufacturers based in Japan, Germany and Taiwan.
Project developers sometimes face delays in development due to shortages of component supplies. By sourcing from multiple vendors, Welspun has extended its sourcing base, thereby speeding up its execution cycle time, the company said.
In total, the 50MW facility will generate an output of 90 million kWh a year.
The project was awarded to Welspun Energy through a competitive bidding process. The bids covered the second batch of the first phase of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) programme which aims to install 20GW of PV capacity in the country by 2022.
The company was the only organisation to have been awarded the maximum capacity of 50MW through three projects under the second batch of the programme.
Welspun Energy has also won a contract to develop a 130MW PV project in Madhya Pradesh, which, according to the company, will represent the largest solar project to be developed in India. The project is currently under construction and is slated to be commissioned by the end of 2013. Last week, the company announced it had obtained financing of Rs.885 crores (US$161 million) for the project.
