Joint venture plans 13GW renewables project in India

Indian mobile phone and commodity export firm Airvoice Group has formed a joint venture with public sector body Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam to build 13GW of solar and wind capacity in a sparsely populated part of Karnataka district in south west India.

The joint venture is budgeting to invest $50 billion over a period of 10 years, claiming it to be the largest single renewable energy project in the world.

The majority of the capacity planned - 10GW - will be generated through photo voltaic installations, and the remainder through wind farms. Sanjay Kapoor, chairman and managing director of Airvoice Group, told the Hindustan Times his company had identified 12 potential sites for the solar installations and four districts in Karnataka.

The first phase – 100MW of solar and 200MW of wind capacity – is expected to be commissioned in the next 36 months.

Tendering for the 1.5MW wind turbines is to begin shortly, and the company is already in talks with Eurowinds and Suzlon.

Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, itself a joint venture between the governments of India and the district of Himachal Pradesh, has 48 per cent equity in the new company.