At Karnataka’s Pavagada Solar Park, approximately 1,400 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects are operational today. Recently, ReNew Power commissioned 300 MW of solar PV capacity at the park.

The Pavagada Solar Park infrastructure was developed by the Karnataka Solar Power Development Corporation Limited (KSPDCL), a joint venture between the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and KREDL. It was initially built to host a capacity of 2,000 MW of solar at a single location spanning 13,000 acres of land. Later, it was decided to develop an additional 50 MW of capacity at the park.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, 1,400 MW of solar capacity has been commissioned in the park while another 650 MW capacity is in the developmental phase.

Out of the 2,050 MW capacity being developed at the park, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is implementing 600 MW of solar PV, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is implementing 200 MW, while KREDL is implementing 1,250 MW.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, the NTPC had tendered 600 MW of solar capacity to be set up at Pavagada under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (phase 2, batch 2), KREDL had tendered 1,200 MW under JNNSM (phase 2, batch 4), and SECI tendered 200 MW under JNNSM (phase 2, batch 4). Moreover,  KREDL tendered an additional 50 MW capacity in December 2018.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, ACME Solar has so far commissioned a 100 MW solar project, Adani (Parampujya Solar) has commissioned 150 MW, while Avaada Power has commissioned 150 MW capacity of the 300 MW it is slated to develop.

Fortum has commissioned 100 MW of solar capacity out of the 350 MW it had been awarded, Rattan India has commissioned 50 MW, ReNew Power has commissioned 350 MW, Tata Power has commissioned 400 MW, and Azure has commissioned 100 MW of solar projects.

SB Energy is yet to commission a single block of solar projects out of the 200 MW awarded to it in an auction earlier.

When contacted, a KSPDCL official informed, “The entire 2,050 MW at Pavagada will be operational by December 2019. SB Energy has that much time to commission its capacity. For the 50 MW, solar PV awarded recently by the KREDL, the developer has up to October 2019 to commission the project.”

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Karnataka has installed large-scale solar capacity of over 5.3 GW and has a development pipeline of ~2.8 GW, making it India’s leading solar state.