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Kavda is the world’s largest renewable energy park, combining solar and wind energy.
Havda, Gujarat:
The narrow airstrip in the middle of miles of barren land bordering Pakistan doesn’t even have air traffic controllers to guide incoming planes, and the only infrastructure is a portable toilet and a makeshift office inside a container. It doesn’t feel like a gateway to the border. The world’s largest renewable energy park.
By December 2022, when Gautam Adani, head of the Adani Group and then the world’s second-richest man, reached the barren area for the first time in a small plane, the runway was even bigger. It was small, and the barren area from which it got its name had no code. A village 80 kilometers away.
The land had very little vegetation and no habitation due to its highly saline soil. However, this area has the second highest amount of sunlight in the country after Ladakh, wind speeds are five times faster than in flat areas, and it was functioning as idle land for a renewable energy park.
An 18-kilometre drive across dusty arid land from the airstrip is his group’s Kabda Renewable Energy Park, which spans 538 square kilometers, about five times the size of Paris.
When Mr. Adani first landed in Havda, he joked that he wouldn’t even find a mosquito in the area, executives said.
But since then, his group has not only installed solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity and windmills that harness wind speeds of 8 meters per second, but also built colonies for workers and developed an escape to produce salt water. A salt plant was installed. Mobile phones and public facilities such as mobile phone repair shops were pumped up from 700 meters underground.
Adani Green Energy Ltd., India’s largest renewable energy company, plans to invest around Rs 1,500 crore to generate 30 MW of clean power at Kavda in Kutch, Gujarat, said the company’s managing director. Vneet Jain said.
“We have now commissioned 2,000 megawatts (2 GW) of capacity in Kabda and plan to add 4 GW this fiscal year (financial year ending March 2025) and 5 GW every year thereafter,” he said. said.
This airstrip is used to ferry group executives from Mundra or Ahmedabad several times a week.
The air traffic controller or ATC in Bhuj, about 100 miles away, is the last signpost for flights bound for Kabda. However, its range is limited to Tent City, and the pilot will be left virtually alone for the last 80 kilometers (80 kilometers), including landing.
“We will use visual aids and the plane’s navigation system for landing. During takeoff, we will communicate the plan to Mr. Bhuj over the phone,” said a pilot flying the plane owned by the Adani Group.
The outer flange of the energy park is just 1 km from the border with Pakistan. His BSF is placed in a 1 km buffer.
Executives said the airstrip was built in just 35 days in an area where even tractors had to be modified to operate on land that doesn’t absorb water easily.
The region presents some unique challenges. Severe sandstorms occur from March to June, there is no communication or transportation infrastructure, the nearest habitable area is 80 km away, and during the rainy season water does not percolate beneath the soil and is groundwater. It is a restricted area because the groundwater contains salt and the groundwater has a high salt concentration.
Officials said they are building accommodation facilities to accommodate 8,000 workers, some of whom will come from Kabda village.
Adani Group’s renewable energy plan will see the domestic company aim to generate 500 gigawatts of electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030, as part of a broader plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. It is the most ambitious of all.
At its peak, Kabda will generate 81 billion units of power, capable of powering entire countries such as Belgium, Chile and Switzerland.
Mr Jain said the 30GW planned for Kabda will consist of 26GW of solar power and 4GW of wind power.
AGEL’s existing operational portfolio consists of 7,393 MW of solar power, 1,401 MW of wind power and 2,140 MW of wind-solar hybrid generation capacity.
Kavda region has one of the highest solar radiation resources in India with high solar radiation of 2,060 kWh/m2 and wind power of 8 meters per second, but frequent sandstorms require cleaning of solar panels multiple times a day. is required.
Executives said the project will be covered by a completely waterless robotic modular cleaning system. The Havda land belongs to the government, which had leased it to the Adani Group for 40 years.
Executives said that in the past five years, Adani Green has carried out geological surveys, seismic surveys, Cambridge centrifuge surveys, resource assessments and land surveys, environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs), environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) and detailed A survey was conducted. Please conduct a specific feasibility study before embarking on the development of this site.
Construction began in 2022. Comprehensive infrastructure development efforts include the construction of 100 kilometers of roads, 50 kilometers of drainage channels, desalination plants and three reverse osmosis (RO) plants with a total capacity of 70 cubic meters per hour to meet drinking water needs. This included the installation of the base. Project staff, installation of 180 km of fiber optic cable for connection, concrete batching plant.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani group company.)
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