The Rewa solar project is a 750MW photovoltaic (PV) solar park located in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Developed through public-private partnership (PPP), it is considered to be one of the biggest single-site solar power plants in the country.

The solar project was developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), which is a joint venture between the Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikash Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

The Rewa solar park comprises three blocks of solar installations of 250MW capacity each. Each generating unit within the solar park is developed and operated by a separate private company on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 25 years.

The total investment on the project is estimated to be approximately £420m, part of which was funded by the World Bank.

Project Gallery

Although partial operations of the solar project were started in July 2018, the 750MW solar park was officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India in July 2020.

The Rewa solar project is expected to deliver renewable electricity at one of the lowest tariff rates in the country and offset approximately 1.5 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon emissions annually.

Location and site details

The Rewa solar park occupies a total area of 1500ha in the Gurh Tehsil in the Rewa District of Madhya Pradesh, India. Each generating unit within the solar park occupies approximately 500ha.

The National Highway–75 is located approximately 6km south of the project site.

Rewa solar park development partners

Mahindra Renewables, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mahindra Susten, ACME Jaipur Solar Power, a subsidiary of Acme Solar, and Arinsun Clean Energy (now Sprng Energy) were selected by RUMSL as the successful bidders to develop each of the three generating blocks on a BOOT basis within the Rewa solar park in the first half of 2017.

The three 250MW solar blocks were awarded at tariffs as low as Rs.2.9 per unit which is considered to be the lowest tariff ever awarded for a solar project in India.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, was mandated by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and RUMSL to structure and tender the solar park auctioned as three 250MW projects on a single site in 2016.

Financing

The 750MW Rewa solar project, as well as the 250MW Mandsaur solar project in Madhya Pradesh, are the first two projects to be supported under the World Bank’s Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project for India, which is an initiative to help establish large solar projects in the country and support the Government of India to achieve the goal of 100GW of solar power by 2022.

The World Bank approved $100m under this project to cover the financing of the shared infrastructure, including access roads, water supply, telecommunications, pooling stations inside the solar parks as well as the transmission lines connecting to the external substation for the Rewa as well as the Mandsaur solar parks in March 2017.

RUMSL received Central Financial Assistance of approximately £15m from the Government of India for the development of Rewa solar park.

The project also received financial assistance from the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP) of the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of the Government of Australia.

Mahindra Renewables achieved financial closure for its 250MW solar project within the Rewa solar park in March 2018. It secured finance for the project from YES Bank as well as other financial institutions including IFC.

IFC also provided financial assistance to Sprng Energy’s 250MW project within the Rewa solar park.

Rewa solar park make-up

Each 250MW block within the Rewa solar park features photovoltaic solar panels mounted on fixed frame aluminum structures.

The inverters near the solar installations are connected to 2MVA 440V/33kV ONAN transformers. The pooling station within the solar park comprises three 33/220 kV 100MVA step-up transformers.

A 220/400kv grid sub-station located on an 18ha-plot within the project premises receives the electricity output of the solar park and transmits the same to the National Grid through a 32km long 400kV transmission line connecting the Vindhyachal-Jabalpur transmission line.

Power off-take

The Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company (MPPMCL) off-takes 76% of the power generated by the Rewa solar project while the remaining 24% is purchased by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Contractors involved

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for a 250MW solar plant within the Rewa solar park in December 2017.

The majority of the equipment used in the solar park was provided by Chinese suppliers.