Now this is a world record worth talking about! Although still very much at the planning stage, The Business Standard is reporting that the Clinton Foundation is investigating developing what would be by far the world’s largest solar energy project in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Over Five Times the Size of the Current Largest Solar Project
The project would be an ‘integrated Solar City’ with a capacity of 5 gigawatts. Yes, 5 gigawatts.
The facility is expected to cost Rs 200-billion (approximately $475-million) and will produce all raw materials and manufacture all panels on site. Hence ‘integrated Solar City’. This is expected to reduce costs so that the power produced at the site will cost about Rs 4 ($0.10) per (unspecified) unit. It has not been disclosed whether the project would employ solar photovoltaic or solar thermal technology.
The government of Gujarat is considering a Kutch or Banaskanta location—in the westernmost part of the state near the border with Pakistan for those people for whom Indian geography isn’t a strong point—for the project.
Project Would Be Significantly Larger Than Fossil Fuel Power Plants
At about five times the capacity of a typical coal or nuclear plant, this project would certainly a big step in the right direction towards making solar power a greater part of India's power mix. Recently prime minister Manmohan Singh announced that solar power would be a key part of his plan to deal with climate change.
Currently, the largest solar energy project in the world is a solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert being developed by BrightSource, with an eventual capacity of up to 900 megawatts.
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