The U.S.-based global renewable energy company, SunEdison Inc, signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday at the Global Investors Meet to set up 2 GW of solar and wind power projects in the State.
“The company will invest Rs.12,000 crore – Rs.14,000 crore in the next five years for setting up the projects. Of the 2GW planned, 1.2 GW will be solar and the rest will be wind energy,” Pashupathy Gopalan, president & MD – Asia Pacific, SunEdison, said on the sidelines of the event.
The MoU was signed by Mr. Gopalan and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the investors meet, a company press release said.
SunEdison has so far identified Virudhunagar, Tuticorin, Tiruchi and Perambalur for the projects, he said. The company is already in the process of installing 200 MW of solar power projects.
It has also acquired Continuum Energy, which is installing 150 MW of wind energy projects. The acquisition of Continuum is expected to be complete by the end of this year, Mr. Gopalan said.
The company will set up the solar projects in small capacities of 10 MW to 50 MW as it requires smaller parcels of land than big projects, .
‘Tremendous potential’
Adani Group is looking to invest around Rs. 15,000- Rs. 20,000 crore in Tamil Nadu, group chairman Gautam Adani said.
Speaking on the sidelines of Global Investors Meet in Chennai, Mr. Adani, chairman of Adani Group said that Tamil Nadu offered tremendous potential and that the company was setting up a 650-MW solar plant, which will be the largest in the world and will be operational by March 2016.
“We are now investing in port and non-renewable power projects [thermal] and we are looking at investing around Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 crore in the state,” said Adani.
However, he did not disclose the time frame for making the proposed investments in the State.
(The article has been edited to correct a factual error)
