Investment marks company’s first in Indian solar energy sector.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: General Electric will make a sizeable investment into India’s solar energy program, putting $24 million into the Welspun Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd. (WREPL) facility in Madhya Pradesh.
The Welspun Energy plant is the country’s largest functional solar power plant, and is located in the Madhya Pradesh town of Neemuch. Launched in August of last year, the plant is a 150 Mega-Watt (MW) installation that cost somewhere in the area of $200 million to construct.
The plant sits on 800 acres of barren land, on an elevated site about 500 meters higher than the ground surrounding it, according to a WREPL press release. The solar power plant is able to generate sustainable and renewable energy for 624,000 homes, and eliminates over 216,000 tons of carbon emissions per year.
“We have been working to empower the country through our efficient solar energy projects, which will help meet the country’s energy requirements in a sustainable manner,” said Vineet Mittal, Vice-Chairman of WREPL, in a statement. “We are excited to work with GE. The combination of our renewable project development expertise and GE’s financial strength and risk management will help achieve the ambitious goals set by the government to expand the use of renewable energy in India.”
The GE investment into the plant is the company’s first into India’s solar energy sector, which is still in a relatively nascent stage. The Neemuch plant is currently at 26% utilization, which, although low, still makes it one of the top-performing clean energy plants in India.
The energy it generates is sold to the Madhya Pradesh state utility, and is “helping the country meet its target of 20 percent energy generation from renewable sources by 2020. helping the country meet its target of 20% energy generation from renewable sources by 2020.”
GE’s investment into India also means that the company’s Energy Financial Services has now crossed the $10 billion threshold in terms of investments into foreign renewable energy programs, re-iterating GE’s commitment to finding cost-effective energy solutions that also keep the Earth safe.
India’s solar program has received criticism in recent months, namely by the US (where GE is based), which has taken India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) under allegations that the country’s government is discriminating against foreign companies in order to promote its own domestic work force.
Last year, India received nearly $8 billion in investments towards its clean energy sector; according to the Economic Times, 80% of that came from domestic investors, but “the amount of foreign funding is rising.”