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wiredInUSA - March 2014
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Hindustan Cleanenergy Ltd, part of
HindustanPower Projects Ltd, is undertaking
a major expansion plan. The company is
aiming for an installed capacity of over
500MW of solar power generation by the
end of 2014, increasing to 1,000MW by
2016.
Of the 350MW installed to date about
120MW solar capacity is at overseas
locations in Germany, Italy, the UK and
Japan. In the expansion process now
underway, about 100MW capacity is at an
advanced stage of implementation and
will be added shortly. Of this, around 50MW
is in Gujarat and the rest in other states,
including Madhya Pradesh, explained
Rajya Wardhan Ghei, chief executive
officer of Hindustan Cleanenergy.
Cleanenergy in major
expansion
Work has begun on the construction of
East Africa’s first utility-scale solar PV plant.
The 8.5MW plant, which, once complete,
will generate 8 percent of Rwanda's
electricity, is being built on land belonging
to Agahozo-Shalom youth village.
The Rwandan government’s own objective
is for a five-fold increase in renewable
sources of power by 2017. The solar field will
feed electricity into the national grid under
a 25-year power purchase agreement with
the Rwanda energy, water and sanitation
authority (EWSA) and is expected to be
operational before the end of the year.
The $24 million project was announced
by Yosef Abramowitz, the president of
Gigawatt Global Coöperatief, which
arranged for its financing.
Agahozo-Shalom youth village is leasing
the land, and some of the fees generated
will be used to help fund the charity's
ongoing activities. The village was built to
take care of orphans of the 1994 genocide
against the Tutsi. It was founded by the
late Anne Heyman, who died in January
following a horse riding accident.
Utility-scale solar for
Rwanda