SJVN Secures 100 MW Solar Project at Raghanesda Solar Park

SJVN Ltd has announced that it has bagged a 100 MW solar PV power project in the Raghanesda Solar Park and will soon begin work on the Rs 490 crore project.

SJVN Ltd has announced that it has bagged a 100 MW solar PV power project in the Raghanesda Solar Park in Gujarat. The firm had participated in an open bidding process for allotment of Raghanesda Solar Park, Gujarat and bagged the quoted capacity of 100 MW at the rate of Rs 2.73/unit on build own and operate (BOO) basis.

Announcing the project win in a regulatory filing, the firm stated that the tentative cost of construction/ development of this project is Rs 490 crore.

Further adding that “the project is expected to generate 252 MU (millions of units) in the 1st year and the project cumulative energy generation over a period of 25 years would be about 6300 MU.”

At present, the primarily hydro power focused agency has a total installed capacity of 2015.2 MW which includes two hydro power plants of 1,912 MW capacity and a further three renewable power plants of 103.2 MW capacity, one of which is a solar plant of 5.6 MW and the other two are wind plants worth 97.6 MW.

“With this allotment of 100 MW, SJVN now has 200 MW of solar projects under execution. Both these solar plants are expected to be commissioned by March 2022, which shall be a huge leap in SJVN’s renewable capacity,” the company stated.

The other solar plant of 100 MW capacity that the firm mentioned is the one it is developing at the Dholera Solar Park (also in Gujarat) at an outlay of Rs 450 crore. SJVN was awarded 100 MW capacity in a Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) auction after submitting a bid for Rs 2.80 per unit. And will now develop the project on a build-own-and-operate basis.

SJVN Chairman and Managing Director Nand Lal Sharma had confirmed that the tentative cost of the project is Rs 450 crore and that the project is expected to generate 244 million units in a year. The power purchase agreement will be signed for 25 years.

Days later, the firm had issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) inviting eligible financing institutions to submit proposals for providing debt financing loans to the Government of India and Government of Himachal Pradesh JV for its upcoming renewable energy projects (mainly solar). The CPSU claimed that it is keen to take up new projects in order to increase capacity through organic as well as inorganic ways by acquiring financially feasible stressed assets and new renewable projects which shall come into generation/ operation within 12 months.

As per SJVN, the total cost of the project will be approximately Rs 1250 crore. And 80 percent of the cost (Rs 1000 crore) of the project will be arranged through debt financing. As per the terms of the EOI, the total tenure of the loans will be 16 years, with the first year being the moratorium period, and then a 15 year repayment period.