US solar giant SunEdison has signed deals with the Indian Government to build the largest solar manufacturing facility in India as well as provide 5GW’s of solar and wind energy in Karnataka over the next 5 years.

India has a population of around 1.3 billion people and around 400 million of those don’t have electricity. SunEdison has announced that it has signed two memorandums of understanding with India – one to build a $4 billion solar manufacturing facility together with Indian power operater, Adani Enterprises and secondly to develop 5GW’s of renewable energy within 5 years in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Their first agreement is the solar facility, based in the north Indian state of Gujarat, which will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 7.5GW’s making it the largest in India. It will create around 4500 direct jobs in the area and a further 15 000 indirect jobs. “This facility will create ultra-low cost solar panels that will enable us to produce electricity so cost effectively it can compete head to head, unsubsidized and without incentives, with fossil fuels,” said Ahmad Chatila, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunEdison, in a statement.

Their second agreement ensures that 5GW’s of solar energy and wind power will be installed over the next 5 years – of that, 1.5GW’s will be developed by the end of this year. SunEdison has stated that the electricity produced by the 5GW’s of solar power and wind energy would be competitive with coal-fired generation (as most places are reaching grid parity unsubsidised now). SunEdison has experience in India providing power to those who have previously never had electricity however this will be their first wind installations there.

“Karnataka’s comprehensive energy policy paves the way for socially and environmentally responsible economic growth and prosperity by addressing the energy needs of utility customers, distributed generation customers, and farmers who can benefit from solar water pumps for irrigation,” stated Pashupathy Gopalan, President of SunEdison, Asia-Pacific.

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was previously Chief Minister of Gujarat. He is a firm believer in renewable energy and solar power. Together with supportive policy he has helped in aiding the country from having a renewable energy capacity of under 4GW’s to now having over 27GW’s worth. Modi wants foreign investors to lead the charge and invest $100 billion to increase solar energy capacity by 33 times to reach 100GW’s.

”The energy leadership in the state is determined to make a significant positive impact for the people and businesses of Karnataka, and we are excited about the opportunity to work with them to make this positive change,” said Mr Gopalan.

 

 

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