AC Energy will further expand its renewable energy portfolio in Asia-Pacific with its commitment to develop a 140 megawatts (MW) Sitara solar project in India.
The project which will be built by UPC-AC Energy Solar, the company’s joint venture with UPC Solar Asia Pacific, and costs $68 million.
The project will be completed by the first quarter of 2021.
The facility will be located in Rajasthan, a desert state with the highest irradiation in India.
It will supply energy to the Solar Energy Corp. of India. UPC-AC Energy Solar won the power supply agreement for the project via a competitive bid at INR 2.48 per kilowatt hour, fixed over a 25-year period.
The Indian solar facility also brings AC Energy’s total renewables capacity to over 1,200 MW.
“India is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing markets for renewable energy. We look forward to participating in this market as we continue to expand around the region and work towards our goal of reaching 5,000 MW of renewables by 2025,” Eric Francia, AC Energy’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The company said India has one of the largest clean energy expansion programs in the world.
The country has set itself an ambitious target of 175 gigawatts (GW) renewables capacity by 2022 in the form of 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from hydro power.
“The commencement of Sitara solar’s construction is a head start for the joint-venture to achieve its more than 1 GW target of operating solar project portfolio across Asia in a few years. This project is expected to reduce 2.4 million tons of carbon dioxide in its life-cycle.
This is our humble contribution to help India reach its renewable energy goal,” said Pranab Kumar Sarmah, UPC-AC Energy Solar chief executive officer and co-founder of UPC Solar Asia Pacific
