The 1 GW Kurnool Solar Park in Andhra Pradesh will be commissioned on July 13, 2017. With the commissioning of Adani’s awarded capacity of 50 MW, the entire proposed 1 GW will be synchronized to the grid for evacuation.

The Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Corporation Private Limited (APSPCL) stated in a release, “Prayatna Developers, an Adani subsidiary, has commissioned 30 MW out of awarded 50 MW capacity on June 28, 2017, and will commission the remaining 20 MW by July 13, 2017.”

An APSPCL official told Mercom, “980 MW is already grid-synchronized, Adani is ready with the remaining 20 MW, within a day or two, the 20 MW will be officially added to the grid.”

An Adani executive told Mercom, “we have worked on a war footing to complete the project even after there was a delay in getting land from APSPCL. “The NTPC had provided us time until July end to complete the project, but we are ready much ahead of the deadline,” added the Adani executive.

An APSPCPL official had previously told Mercom, “We are waiting for Adani to commission their 50 MW project. All other firms have completed the projects awarded to them, once Adani completes commissioning, the entire 1 GW will be on grid.”

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) had conducted the first e-reverse auction for the Kurnool Park and SunEdison (now Greenko) won the bid to develop 500 MW in November 2015 by quoting Rs.4.63 (~$0.071)/kWh – lowest quoted tariff at that time. In December 2015, SBG Cleantech won a bid to develop 350 MW by quoting Rs.4.63 (~$0.071)/kWh; Azure Power won a bid to develop 100 MW by quoting Rs.5.12 (~$0.079)/kWh; and Adani won a bid to develop 50 MW by quoting Rs.5.13 (~$0.079)/kWh. The Azure and Adani bids were under the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) category.

This will be the largest solar park in the world for a long time as most GW-scale projects globally are under development or in the initial stages of tendering.