India goes ahead with world’s largest solar project

Will have a total generating capacity of 4,000 MW.

The project will be Phase 2 of India's Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission that aims to give India 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2020. 

There is currently 1,759 MW connected to the grid. The government described JNNSM as the largest solar-based power project in the world. Being the first project of this scale, this project is expected to set a trend for large-scale solar power development in the world.

The project will be located on 23,000 acres of land owned by the state-run Sambhar Salts Ltd. The first phase that will generate 1,000 MW is scheduled for completion in three years. When fully operational, the Sambhar plant will generate 6,000 MW of electricity annually.

The project will be organized and run by a joint venture of five public sector utilities: Bhel, Powergrid Corporation of India, Solar Energy Corporation of India, Hindustan Salts limited and Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd. The government intends to sell solar power from the Sambhar plant for about 9 cents a unit, which would be the lowest rate for solar power in India. The current cost of solar power in India is around 11 cents per unit.