200 MW Solar Park Launched in West Bengal by Chief Minister

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a 200 MW solar energy park in West Bengal with a total investment of Rs 1200 crore.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a 200 MW solar energy park in West Bengal with a total investment of Rs 1200 crore that will also entail major employment opportunities in the state. The project involves foreign funding by way of debt and equity.

Later, elaborating on the power project, state industry minister Amit Mitra said West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL) has undertaken to set up the 200 MW solar park at Dadanpatrabar in East Midnapore with financial assistance of KFW Germany and the state government. The project’s land requirement would be 1,032 acres in two phases of 532 acres and 500 acres. “These are mainly salt land. Due to this project, 5 lakh tonne of carbon emission would be stopped,” Mitra added.

An MoU in this regard was signed between WBSEDCL and KFW during Bengal Global Business Conclave in Digha in November 2019. The total project outlay is Rs 1,200 crore. This involves Rs 960 crore financial assistance from KFW and the state’s contribution would be Rs 240 crore.

WBSEDCL chairman Santanu Basu said the project would produce 350 million units of power a year. The completion target for the project, expected to employ several thousand, would be June 2022.

In August, we had reported that the German state-owned development bank KfW has granted a Rs 600 crore loan to the WBSEDCL for the work on the 125 MW first phase of the 200 MW solar PV power park in the East Midnapore district of the state.

The news was confirmed by state Power Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. The 15-year loan will carry an interest rate of 0.15 percent and cover 80 percent of the total project cost of Rs 750 crore. “For the first phase of the 125 MW solar park at Dadanpatra, the major cost is being funded by the KfW totalling Rs 600 crore at a marginal interest rate of 0.15 percent. We will fund the rest. The total project is of 200 MW,” Chattopadhyay had told local reporters.