Govt solar power project rusts, corporates line up to buy land from Vadra

Private solar plant developers are deserting solar parks that they had opted for first for a non-descript village Gajner near Bikaner in Rajasthan. And guess who was the beneficiary? Robert Vadra. A Business Standard report today revealed that many companies, which had won the competitive bidding process to set up solar power plants, had opted for Sujasar and Galar as the sites for their projects  near Pokharan and a stretch of 1600-1700 bighas was earmarked for the proposed Rajasthan Solar Processing Zone (RSPZ). But Gajner on National Highway 15 has managed to wean away two solar power generation projects that RSPZ was to have. Robert Vadra, Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, has created a huge land bank near a 220-Kv grid sub-station, making his holdings close to this station ideal for upcoming solar plants. (Firstpost was first to break this story ) [caption id=“attachment_654114” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Queueing up for solar plants. AP[/caption] A French company Fonroche Energie, which had opted for Sujasar as its project location, has backtracked and picked the land Vadra had to offer. According to the Business Standard report, global companies such as Fonroche and Indian corporate houses like Reliance, Tatas, Mahindras, L&T and Welspun also in the running to set up solar power plants, to make the most of the central government programme called the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission or JNNSM. And given the location of the sub-station, the land owned by Vadra has an advantage over the land earlier earmarked for it. Fonroche, which shifted its plant, has already begun generating power from its Gajner-based plant. The Business Standard report says that one BM Developers is setting up a 5-Mw project 10 km from the Gajner sub-station. But apart from these plants, not much work was reported in Gajner, though other industrial houses are said to have bought land from Vadra and others. The report, however, finds that the proposed RSPZ at Sujassar `remains a rusting board standing in the middle of the desert.’ REPZ was supposed to be a 100 MW solar park but after Fonroche departed, a Vijaywada- based developer, LEPL Projects, also pulled out.