New Delhi: Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) signed a historic loan agreement for ₹4,444.71 crore with SJVN Green Energy Ltd. (SGEL, a subsidiary of SJVN Ltd.) on Thursday for setting up of a 1,000 MW Solar power project at Bikaner, Rajasthan.
The IREDA funded project will connect to 400/220 KV substation Bikaner-II (near Bikaner). SJVN has bagged the project through the tender floated by IREDA under the CPSU Phase-II (Tranche III) Scheme for development of Grid connected Solar PV Power Project through competitive Bidding Process based on VGF support.
Speaking on the occasion, IREDA chairman and managing director (CMD) Pradip Kumar Das said: “We are pleased to sanction IREDA’s highest loan amount to SGEL for development of 1,000 MW Solar project. We will be able to support Govt. of India to achieve its targets of 50% share of energy from non-fossil fuels by 2030 through this kind of cooperation. Also, this partnership will encourage green investment and generate both direct and indirect employment opportunities.”
Pradipta Kumar Roy, deputy general manager (IREDA) and SL Sharma, CEO (SGEL) signed the loan agreement at the corporate office of IREDA in presence of Das and Nand Lal Sharma CMDs of IREDA and SVJN respectively. Chintan Shah, director (technical), IREDA, AK Singh, director (finance), SJVN, RC Sharma, CFO, Debjani Bhatia, GM (TS), IREDA and other senior officials were present on the occasion.
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The project will be implemented within 36 months from the letter of award. In a National Stock Exchange filing, SVJN said that the project is being financed at a debt/equity ratio of 80:20. The Central government will fund the viability gap of ₹44.72 billion, while entire debt of ₹44.45 billion has been tied up with IREDA including bridge loan of ₹2.23 billion ($26.9 million) against the viability gap funding. The public sector enterprise further said that Tata Power Solar Systems was awarded the project’s engineering, procurement, and construction contract.
