India awards world’s largest solar contract to Adani Green Energy

Adani Green Energy has been awarded the world’s single largest solar development bid to date, and will develop 8GW of solar projects over the next five years for the Solar Energy Corporation of India.

The record solar agreement will see Adani Green Energy develop 2GW of solar capacity by 2022, with the remaining 6GW coming online in 2GW increments each year through 2025. While Adani has not been overly forthcoming with the location details, it is known that at least one of the projects will be a 2GW single-site generation project that will rank as one of the world’s largest announced single-site projects.

As part of the agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India, governed by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Adani will also establish 2GW of additional solar cell and module manufacturing capacity.

To be established by 2022, the new 2GW worth of manufacturing capacity will build on the company’s existing 1.3GW of capacity and further consolidate the company’s position as India’s largest solar manufacturing facility.

“We are honoured to be selected by SECI for this landmark solar award,” said Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group.

“In today’s world, climate adaptation cannot be considered independent of economic development priorities and both job creation as well as decarbonization must be simultaneous objectives,” said the head of the company that is building what has been described as one of the world’s biggest “carbon bombs”, the Galilee Basin coal province in Queensland.

“India made a commitment at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris that it would lead the Climate Change revolution and today is the leader among the just eight nations on track to meet their COP21 commitments.

“The fact that renewable power will transition into becoming the world’s cleanest and most economical fuel is a foregone conclusion and the Adani Group intends to play a leading role in this journey.

“This award is yet another step in our nation’s climate change promise to the world as well as enabling our nation’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self Reliant India Program). It is another step towards fulfilling our Group’s Nation Building vision.”

The project will also push Adani’s total solar capacity under operation, construction, or contract, up to 15GW, which includes the Rugby Run solar project in Australia, and another in South Australia that is yet to be built.

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