T-Solar Constructs 61 MW of Photovoltaic Solar Energy in India and Peru

The group, which already has more than 230MW in operation and construction in Spain, Italy, India and Peru, has just brought its first PV power plant (5MW) in India online. The new plant uses thin-film amorphous silicon (a-Si) panels produced in the company’s factory in Galicia, Spain.

The PV power plant is located near the city of Jodhupur in the state of Rajasthan, India, from which it will feed 8.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year into the country’s national electricity grid. It is the first PV power plant to be brought online by a Spanish company in India and is commissioned within the framework of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

• 17.3MW in India

The plant was developed by T-Solar and Astonfield Renewable Resources under a joint venture agreement they signed in June 2011 to roll out PV power projects. Before the end of 2011, T-Solar and Astonfield will connect their second PV power plant to the grid on the Indian subcontinent, this time in the Patan district in the state of Gujarat.

The new plant, with an installed capacity of 12.3MW, will generate 19.4GWh a year, which will be uploaded into the national electricity grid in a country where the demand for electricity is growing as fast as the economy. The investment in both projects is €38 million EUR (~$54 million USD). The two power plants will generate sufficient power to supply more than 43,000 Indian homes.

• 44MW under construction in Peru

Along with India, Peru is one of the locations in which T-Solar is focusing its international expansion. In 2010, the company was awarded a 20-year contract to supply the Peruvian government with the 44MW output of two PV plants located in the Arequipa region in southern Peru.

The two new plants will be T-Solar’s first large-scale projects in the country. They will also use the thin-film amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) modules produced by the T-Solar Group to generate 80GWh a year, sufficient power to supply more than 18,000 Peruvian homes. The company is planning to bring the Peruvian plants online in June 2012.

A total of €118 million (~$167 million) will be invested in both projects, partially financed by the US agency, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).