Adani Green Energy Limited is building the world's largest renewable energy park in Khavda in Kutch district of Gujarat. This park is spread over 538 square km, about five times larger than the total size of the French capital Paris.
According to Vineet Jain, Managing Director of Adani Green Energy, the total capacity of the Khavda plant will be 30 GW. Adani Group will invest £15 billion in this company. Currently two gigawatt renewable energy is being produced from this park. Four gigawatt capacity will be added by March 2025. After this, five gigawatt capacity will be added every year. Khavda Park is just one km away from Pakistan Border.
According to Vineet Jain, the share of solar energy in the proposed capacity of 30 GW is 26 GW. Whereas wind energy will be four per cent. When completely ready, this park will generate 81 billion units of electricity, which can supply the entire demand of countries like Belgium, Chile and Switzerland.
Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL) has been appointed as the nodal agency for the Hybrid Renewable Energy Park. The project to build this park was prepared as part of PM Modi's efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Work on this project is going on from the year 2021.
There are many reasons for setting up this plant here; in which mainly more than 100,000 hectares of land is lying barren near Khavda, located on the India-Pakistan border in Kutch. The second reason is that the weather here is favorable for both solar and wind. When it came to building the RE Park, this barren land was identified in front of the Vighakot BSF check post. But this area is sensitive from a security point of view. For this, permission was sought from the Defence Ministry.
In April 2020, the Defence Ministry received the green signal to build a Hybrid Renewable Energy Park on 72,600 hectares of land. Then the responsibility of its construction was given to six companies including GIPCL. Mainly among these companies, Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL), Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL), NTPC Limited, Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), Sarjan Realities Limited (SRL), Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECIL).
Many challenges are coming to the fore in building this renewable energy park in the Rann of Kutch including humid air, salty water, salty soil and security. This area is very close to the Pakistan border, due to which it is very sensitive from a security point of view i.e. 'no-go-zone'. Because of this, there remains a danger that some Pakistani terrorist might join the workers.
According to GIPCL chief Rajendra M Mistry, 50 per cent of the work will be completed by December 2024 this year. With which production of 14,00,000 MW electricity will start. Whereas the Hybrid Renewable Energy Park will be completely ready in December 2026, after which the production of 30 gigawatt electricity will start.
