Pavagada Solar Park, the world’s largest solar park, has now become entirely operational. The park, located in Tumakuru district of Karnataka, has been developed by the Karnataka Solar Park Development Corporation (KSPDCL), a joint venture between the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the Karnataka Renewable Energy (KREDL).
Initially, the plan was to build a solar park of capacity 2,000 MW, spanning over 13,000 acre of land. Later, an additional capacity of 50 MW was added. The final 200 MW capacity developed by SB Energy (SoftBank) has now been commissioned.
Out of the total 2,050 MW capacity, NTPC implemented 600 MW solar PV projects, SECI implemented 200 MW, while KREDL implemented 1,250 MW. The Pavagada Solar Park was conceptualised in February 2015, and the park’s development began in January 2016. The park is divided into eight blocks of 250 MW each and has dedicated high voltage supply lines, pooling stations, and a pooling substation for evacuation.
Also, grid-connected solar projects totaling 400 MW were commissioned. The process of conceptualising and developing the required infrastructure for those projects took more than two years.