Course: ME252

Power Plant Engineering

Bhadla Solar Park
___

By Ajit Antil(2K19/EE/026)

INTRODUCTION

Bhadla solar park is a 2.25GW solar complex being developed in Bhadla village in Jodhpur
district of Rajasthan, India.The project is being developed in four phases, with Rajasthan Solar
Park Development Company Limited (RSPDCL) developing the first two phases, Saurya Urja
Company of Rajasthan developing phase three, and Adani Renewable Energy Park Rajasthan
developing phase four.

The total estimated investment on the project is Rs98.5bn ($1.4bn).The solar park construction
was started in July 2015 and the first phase was commissioned in October 2018. The second
phase is expected to be commissioned in April 2019, while phases three and four are expected to
be commissioned by March 2019.
 2

Geographical Location
Bhadla solar park spans a total area of 5,783ha in Bhadla village, which is located 220km away
from Jodhpur on Bap-Bhadla road.Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC) has
allotted the land for the execution of the project in coordination with the state government.
RSPDCL leased 1,800ha of land to develop phase two of the project.

Rajasthan has the highest solar irradiation of 5.72kWh/m²/day making it a perfect site for solar
park development. The country also has the advantage of maximum solar power potential of
142GW in the country with vast unused barren and affordable land.

4 Phases of Solar Badla Power Park

Phase I
In the first phase, NTPC Limited auctioned 420 MW of capacity split into 6 packages of 70
MW each. The Finnish company Fortum quoted the lowest tariff of ₹4.34/kW ⋅h. Rising Sun
Energy and Solairedirect won 2 packages, each quoting a price of ₹4.35/kW ⋅h. Yarrow
Infrastructure won the remaining package quoting a price of ₹4.36/kW ⋅h.
In December 2016, Solairedirect signed an agreement with Ecoppia, a PV panel cleaning
solutions developer, to provide automated cleaning solutions to the project. Due to the
park's location in a desert region, it is prone to dust storms. Solairedirect secured a loan of
₹6.75 billion (equivalent to ₹7.6 billion or US$110 million in 2019) from IDBI Bank in
February 2017 to help finance the project.
Phase II
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) auctioned 250 MW capacity in the second
phase for which 27 firms submitted bids.
Phase III
SECI auctioned 1000 MW capacity in the third phase on 11 May 2017.
SECI also actioned 800 MW for tariff of ₹2.44 (3.4¢ US) per kilowatt-hour. The SoftBank
Group has been awarded 500 MW and ACME 200 MW. ACME commissioned the 200 MW
capacity in September 2018. HFE commissioned the 100 MW capacity in November 2019.
The entire 200 MW capacity is expected to be commissioned by January 2020.
Phase IV
 3

SECI auctioned 250 MW capacity in the fourth phase on 9 May 2017.

South Africa's Phelan Energy Group and Avaada Power were awarded 50 MW and 100 MW of
capacity, respectively. Their bids of ₹2.62 per kilowatt-hour were the lowest tariffs for any solar
power project in India. It was also lower than NTPC's average coal power tariff of ₹3.20 per
kilowatt-hour. SBG Cleantech, a consortium of Softbank Group, Airtel and Foxconn, was awarded
the remaining 100 MW capacity at a rate of ₹2.63/kW ⋅h.
SECI tender bids for the remaining 750 MW capacity in June 2017. In this way, the entire
solar park will be completed by December 2018, and with 2055 MW installed capacity, it will
be the one of the world's largest solar parks.

Power transmission from Bhadla solar park

The power evacuation system of the solar park will be developed by Powergrid
Corporation of India (PGCIL) and state-owned transmission company TRANSCO and
delivered to the state electricity boards.

PGCIL will establish 765/400/220kV grid substations and pooling stations at Bhadla. A
transmission system with 765kV and 400kV double-circuit line along with two 400kV
and four 220kV line bays for solar parks interconnection will also be laid.

TRANSCO will also develop 400/220/132kV grid substations for power evacuation.

Financing
Construction of the new transmission lines from the solar park to the national grid is
being financed under the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Transmission Investment
Programme (RRETIP), which is co-ordinated by the Government of India, the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), and the Clean Technology Fund. RRETIP has rendered
technical assistance to plan infrastructure and implement phase two of the project and
to plan and review phases three and four.
 4

Challenges & Solutions

Creating a major first level hindrance to the achievement of HFE’s production targets

have been the incessant 15 to 20 degrees high sand dunes in the area. Therefore, it

is essential to mention the risk of establishing a plant in such a landscape ranging

from yield sacrifices to a damaged and destroyed plant structure itself. Moreover,

successful completion of production requires a multi-crore investment in flattening

the dunes as a base step of the whole process. Planting module mounting structures

in the likes of such landscape is an extremely difficult task. One that requires niche,

thorough and creative engineering as well as operational skills. Good for HFE, for

they overflow with intelligent, motivated personnel, always grabbing such challenges

and overcoming them with utmost efficiency and effectiveness. In one such recent

attempt, HFE furthered a step from its usual procedure and inculcated an innovative

strategy of drone survey, mapping the complete land in conjunction with Global

Mapper. This helped in assessing the land and reprofiling it with simultaneous

appropriations of costing requisites. Borrowing from the brains of its impeccable, in-

house design team of over two dozen, highly qualified engineers, HFE was able to

implement its design philosophies into the placement of MMS columns on the freshly

revised slope analysis.

A general challenge in this project has been superimposing the usual performance

standards maintained by HFE on a landscape that comes with unique characteristics

 5

and has not been vastly dived into. Given that solar power structure requires

manual, water-based cleaning twice a month, HFE anticipates that as an inevitable

challenge in this area.

The journey so far in this project has enabled HFE to enhance its performance

portfolio and realize its own potential of overcoming new parameters of challenges

and swift enactment on new, underutilized opportunities.