Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently laid the foundations for the world’s largest renewable energy park in his home state, Gujarat. The massive 30 gigawatts (GW) wind and solar project will spread over 72,600 hectares (180,000 acres) in the western state’s Kutch region. That’s an area the size of Singapore. It will cut carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 50 million tons annually.
To put into perspective just how much 30 GW is: Across the entire United States, there is 49.45 GW of solar power capacity installed from utility-scale solar power plants (excluding rooftop solar); and only five countries have over 30 GW of solar power capacity installed.
At the end of 2019, India had only 42.8 GW of solar power capacity installed. Now it plans to have one project in one state total 30 GW. (It’s actually a series of renewable energy projects in the same general area that collectively total 30 GW.)
Modi said during his speech at the park’s official inauguration:
The hybrid renewable energy park will be the largest in the world and generate 30,000 megawatts of power. It will be spread over 70,000 hectares of land, equivalent to Singapore and Bahrain. About Rs 1.5 lakh crore (roughly 26 billion dollars) will be invested in this park’s construction. The project will create jobs for one lakh (100,000) people.
India’s Bhadla solar park is currently the largest solar farm globally, and it produces 2.245 GW. This new hybrid renewable energy park will be over 13 times bigger!
Australia has plans to build the world’s largest solar farm, too – the Sun Cable project that will produce 10 GW of energy from solar panels spread across an area the size of 20,000 football fields.
India’s new Gujarat facility isn’t only solar panels, though. There will be wind turbines, solar energy storage, and a desalination plant capable of processing 100 million liters of water a day. That’s enough for about 800,000 people living in the arid region bordering Pakistan.
Modi said:
Energy security and water security are vital in the 21st century. The two major projects of the renewable energy park and the desalination plant inaugurated today in Kutch are steps towards achieving the two.
India’s renewable energy targets are ambitious. By 2022, it plans to have 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity; and by 2030, 450 GW. One-sixth (17%) of the 2022 goal will come from the Gujarat hybrid power project. That’s impressive.
