Indian renewable energy developer Greenko Group has started construction on its 5.3GW hybrid energy project in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The foundation-laying ceremony was held in the middle of this year and attended by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The event was first reported by other news outlets.
This project is the first of its kind to combine to solar PV (3GW), wind power (550MW) and pumped hydro storage (10.8GWh). The total investment in the project is estimated to reach US$3 billion. According to the reporting by World Construction Network, Greenko has issued US$750 million worth of green bonds to finance the project. Based on Greenko’s development schedule, the project will enter operation near the end of next year. Furthermore, several central utilities and major industrial enterprises have arranged contracts with Greenko to secure electricity supply from the project. In terms of environmental benefits, the project is expected to offset 15 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year once it is in operation.
Based in Hyderabad, Greenko has installed 7.5GW of renewable generation capacity and is currently developing 10GW worth of projects. The 5.3GW hybrid energy project in Andhra Pradesh is part of the company’s plan to set up an “Energy Cloud Storage Platform”, which is targeted to reach 50GWh by 2025 and 100GWh by 2027. Greenko said three other similar projects are currently in development. They will be respectively placed in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Additionally, Greenko is developing sources of green hydrogen and sets the target of attaining 10GW of production capacity by 2030.
Commenting on the construction of the 5.3GW project, Anil Chalamasetty, founder and CEO of Greenko Group, said that his company is a pioneer in the development of a “24/7 dispatchable renewable energy solution”. He added that Andhra Pradesh will become the energy storage center of India.