India has inaugurated the world’s largest renewable energy park, set to produce approximately 81 billion units of electricity, sufficient to power countries like Belgium, Chile, and Switzerland. Adani Green Energy Limited, the country’s largest renewable energy company, has built this colossal park in the barren lands of Khavda in Kutch, Gujrat ,Situated just a kilometer away from the international border with Pakistan, the park sprawls over 72,600 hectares, roughly equivalent to 726 square kilometers, making it five times larger than Paris. The company is investing approximately 1.5 lakh crore rupees to generate 30 megawatts of clean electricity in Khavda. Vinay Jain, the company’s managing director, stated, “We have currently commissioned 2,000 megawatts (two gigawatts) of electricity capacity in Khavda. Our plan is to add four gigawatts of capacity this fiscal year and subsequently increase capacity by five gigawatts annually.”
The park also features an airstrip used to transport company officials from Mundra or Ahmedabad several times a week.
Challenges of the Arid Region:
Khavda, known for its extremely saline water, faces various challenges, including dusty storms from March to June, lack of basic communication and transportation infrastructure, and the nearest habitable area being nearly 80 kilometers away from the energy park. Moreover, during rainfall, the water does not percolate below the surface due to the salty soil, and the groundwater is also brackish. Despite these challenges, the Adani Group is ambitious in its renewable energy projects. It aims to generate 500 gigawatts of electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030.
Targeting 81 Billion Units of Electricity:
Jain mentioned that the Khavda Energy Park will achieve its peak capacity of producing 81 billion units of electricity, enough to supply countries like Belgium, Chile, and Switzerland. Of the planned 30 gigawatts capacity in the park, 26 gigawatts will come from solar energy, and four gigawatts from wind energy.
Construction of the energy park began in 2022, and it forms part of Adani Green Energy’s current operational portfolio, which includes 7,393 megawatts of solar capacity, 1,401 megawatts of wind capacity, and 2,140 megawatts of hybrid capacity. The land in Khavda is owned by the government, which has leased it to the Adani Group for 40 years.
