Indian renewable energy company Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) has switched on a 1 GW solar power plant at Khavda in Gujarat, thus marking the launch of what it aims to be, the world's largest renewable energy park with 30 GW installed capacity.
It will also be the planet's largest power plant, regardless of the energy source, AGEL added.
Equipped with around 2.4 million bifacial solar modules, the 1 GW solar plant was commissioned in less than 12 months.
The project expands the company's total operational capacity to 9.47 GW. The 30 GW renewable energy park is crucial to the company achieving its 45 GW goal by 2030.
For this power plant, AGEL is using the full portfolio companies of the Adani Group transmission network developed by Adani Energy Solutions, project execution assurance and management by Adani Infra and digitally-enabled operations by Adani Infrastructure Management Solutions Limited (AIMSL), among others.
AGEL aims to bring the 30 GW project online in phases through to FY 2029. In FY 2024, it is scheduled to commission another 1 GW capacity. It will be expanded to 7 GW in FY 2025, 13 GW in FY 2026, 19 GW in FY 2027, 25 GW in FY 2028, eventually achieving 30 GW in FY 2029.
The entire project, once online, will cover 538 sq. km. of barren land in the arid Kutch region, 5-times the size of Paris, and create more than 15,200 green jobs. It is expected to generate 81 billion units of clean electricity to power 16.1 million households.
A project of this magnitude will help avoid 60,300 tons of coal use and the equivalent of taking 12.6 million cars off the roads. The entire facility will be covered with waterless robotic module cleaning systems. Inverters are to be supplied by Jash Energy, Adani's joint venture company with China's Arctech Solar with 3 GW capacity in Gujarat (see Arctech Solar Sets Up Manufacturing Fab In India).