Today is Wednesday, May 1 2024.
A few weeks ago, Adani Green Energy Limited, part of the Adani Group conglomerate in India, announced the conclusion of basic infrastructure and initial operation of 551 MW solar capacity in the Khavda Renewable Energy Park, a gigantic complex planned to reach an installed capacity of 30 GW .
To have an idea, Three Gorges Dam in China, the world's largest hydroelectric plant has an installed capacity of 22.5 GW. And Itaipú in Brazil, 14 GW.
This huge project is located in the state of Gujarat, Western India, not far from the border with Pakistan, area known for an extensive coastline and one of the largest salt desert in the World, a seasonal salt marsh, the Rann of Kutch.
This means a large uninhabited empty region without vegetation or animals.
But with plenty of insolation and wind:
~2,060 kWh/m2 of high solar irradiation
wind speeds of ~8 meters per second
An ideal region for this giga-scale renewable energy complex.
According to the press release, expectations include:
~81 billion units of clean electricity to be generated
16.1 million households to be powered
15,200+ green job creation
58 million tons of CO2 emissions will be avoided, equivalent to carbon sequestrated by 2,761 million trees, 60,300 tonnes of coal avoided, 12.6 million cars off the roads.
Click at the image below - area is visible from space - for the press release from Adani Green Energy Limited, including more details about the Khavda Renewable Energy Park.
The state of Gujarat alloted approximately 72,400 ha land for 6 developers.
India’s historical emissions from 1850 to 2019 amount to less than 4 percent of cumulative CO2 emissions of the world from the pre-industrial era, despite being home to 1.3 billion inhabitants, 17 per cent of the world’s population. As coal still accounts for 70% of the electricity needed in country, at COP26 India reaffirmed its goal of reaching net-zero by 2070.
Nevertheless, India’s clean energy transition plan is very ambitious: 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
