Kurnool Ultra Mega Solar Park is a solar park spread over a total area of 5,932.32 acres (24.0072 km2) in Panyam mandal of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. The project is being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Corporation Private Limited (APSPCL), a joint venture of the Solar Energy Corporation of India, Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation and the New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd.
The park was built at an investment of around INR7,000 crore (US$1.1 billion) by solar power developers and the Central and State governments. Solar power developers invested INR6,000 crore (US$940 million), while the remaining INR1,000 crore (US$160 million) was funded by APSPCL supported by a INR200 crore (US$31 million) grant from the Union Government.
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Description
The Kurnool Solar Park is spread over a total area of 5,932.32 acres (24.0072 km2) in the Gani and Sakunala villages of Kurnool district. The region is arid. The park utilizes over 4 million solar panels with capacities of 315 and 320 Watts. The panels are connected to four 220/33 kV pooling stations of 250 MW each and a 400 / 220kV grid substation through nearly 2,000 circuit kilometres of cables. During a sunny day, the Kurnool Solar Park is able to generate more than 8 million kWh of electricity, which is sufficient to meet virtually the entire electricity demand in Kurnool district.
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Auction and commissioning
NTPC Limited invited bids from solar power developers for the first phase of the park on 29 April 2015, and the second phase on 21 May 2015. In total, NTPC auctioned 1,000 MW of capacity through a reverse auction. The contracts were awarded to solar power developers in mid-December 2015. 500 MW was awarded to SunEdison (as a part of bankruptcy acquired by Greenko) and 350 MW to Softbank Energy (both at rate INR 4.63/kW), 100 MW to Azure Power and 50 MW to Adani Power (at rates of INR 5.12/kWh & INR 5.13/kWh respectively).
350 MW capacity was commissioned on 29 March 2017 by Softbank Energy. Azure Power had begun construction of 100 MW capacity at the park in December 2016, and commissioned the plant by 13 June 2017. The commissioning of 100 MW by Azure Power takes the generating capacity of the park to 950 MW, which would make it the largest solar park in the world. The park is expected to generate 1,000 MW within a few months.
The solar park was damaged by a gale and thunderstorm in Kurnool district on 7 May 2017. Strong winds uprooted some solar panels installed by Softbank and Greenko, and also damaged staff quarters and workers facilities. The damage to the solar park caused by the extreme weather was estimated at INR2 crore (US$310,000).
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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