Welspun commissions $77.7m solar project in Rajasthan, India

Welspun Energy, a power subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Welspun Group, has commissioned its INR5bn ($77.72m) solar energy project in Rajasthan.

The 55MW project, which is claimed to be the largest single-location solar plant across Asia, was inaugurated by Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Welspun has developed the solar project under its strategy to establish 1,750MW of renewable energy projects over the next three years with an investment of INR150bn ($2.33bn).

The energy company currently owns a renewable portfolio of 150MW, which would be increased to 400MW by the end of current fiscal.

Welspun co-founder and managing director Vineet Mittal told Business Line, “We are seeing tariffs going up. If you see last year, the tariff was around Rs 8.50 a unit in Maharashtra and in Punjab it was around Rs 8.70 a unit.”

The company’s solar project pipeline includes 550MW solar plants in Karnataka and 100MW capacity in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, for which the company has inked memorandum of agreements.