SunEdison inaugurated the Dammakhedi 50MWdc solar power plant in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The solar power plant is SunEdison’s first plant in the state and will use single axis trackers to harvest as much energy as possible.
Clean, cost effective and reliable electricity is necessary for India as the nation’s economy is growing. With the high irradiation, solar power is one of the ideal solutions to the nation – in India, solar power is more cost effective than fossil fuels.
“Solar power plants can be built quickly and additional capacity can be easily added later on,” stated Pashupathy Gopalan, SunEdison Asia-Pacific president. “Dammakhedi plant uses the latest solar technologies to maximize energy production, and is a case study in SunEdison's ability to deliver projects quickly and efficiently. We look forward to future projects in the region as we bring affordable and reliable solar electricity to the people of India.”
Dammakhedi is connected to the Madhya Pradesh state grid, delivering power to the central government's Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). It is among the first projects to be commissioned under the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), an ecologically sustainable growth initiative by the State and National Governments of India. Madhya Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Department (MPNRED) is the state nodal agency assigned to oversee the project on a local level, and Sterling and Wilson and Larson and Toubro assisted as the EPC contractors for the project. The plant was interconnected in December 2014.
Manu Srivastava, IAS, Principal Secretary and Commissioner, New and Renewable Energy Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, and Managing Director of the Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam organization, said, "We are happy with the outcome of this joint effort between the government of Madhya Pradesh and SunEdison. Our government, led by the Honourable Chief Minister Shivraj Singhji Chouhan, will continue to promote investments in the renewable energy space, which will contribute substantially to the Prime Minister's ambitious plans to develop 100 GW of solar power by 2022."