Vikram Solar commissioned 80 MW of solar at Gujarat’s Charanka Solar Park for Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL). The capacity comprises two projects of 40 MW each.

These projects have been developed under the Gujarat Solar Park Projects, NSM Phase-II, Batch-IV, Tranche-I. Viability gap funding (VGF) was provided by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for these projects.

“We were awarded the engineering procurement construction (EPC) contract by GIPCL and have completed the project on time,” stated a Vikram Solar executive. Vikram Solar will also provide operation and maintenance (O&M) services for a 10-year period.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, GIPCL had won a bid to develop a 40 MW solar project by quoting VGF of ₹6.799 million (~$105,851)/MW and another 40 MW solar project by quoting VGF of ₹6.975 million (~$108,591)/MW, along with ₹4.43 (~$0.069)/kWh as a fixed tariff.

Spread across 385 acres of land, the 80 MW solar projects have 2,50,429 modules and will have a power generation capacity of 18,86,000 million units. The Vikram Solar executive said that Jinko, Trina and Hanwha modules and Hitachi inverters were utilized to set up the project.

A GIPCL official told Mercom, “The power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the projects were signed in August 2016.” In the past, the same GIPCL official had commented that the project would be complete in 10 months, but there was a delay in project commissioning.

When asked about the delay, the GIPCL official stated, “There were heavy rains in Gujarat, especially in north Gujarat and surrounding areas of Charanka, which led to water logging. As a result, work had been stopped for close to two months.”

Under the Gujarat Solar Park Projects, NSM Phase-II, Batch-IV, Tranche-I, a total of 250 MW of solar were tendered with 25 MW under the domestic content requirement category.

Image credit: Vikram Solar