BENGALURU: The Pavagada Solar Park, with a 2000 Mega Watt (MW) capacity spread over 13,000 acres, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday. The park, located in the bone dry region of Pavagada, will help 2,300 farmers earn up to Rs 21,000 per acre of land and has been executed at a cost of Rs 16,500 crore.
The tariff per unit has been fixed at Rs 3.30 per unit. Named ‘Shakti Sthala’, the solar park is touted to be the world’s biggest solar power installation and spreads across five villages. The park is unique because of people’s participation in power generation model put forward in implementing the project.
Executed in two years, the project has been completed with zero land acquisition. “Pavagada in Tumakuru is one of the most arid regions. Over the last five decades, more than 10,000 people were forced to migrate annually from Pavagada. Under this project, farmers will be treated as partners as well as beneficiaries,” said Energy Minister D K Shivakumar.Karnataka has seen an overall increase in power generation capacity to 23,379 MW in January this year from around 14,030 MW in 2012-13.