India: AREVA awarded contract by Reliance to build Asia’s largest concentrated solar power installation

AREVA Solar, an AREVA subsidiary, has been awarded a contract by the Indian group Reliance Power Limited to build a 250 megawatt (MW) concentrated solar power (CSP) installation in India, which will become the largest in all of Asia. The project will help advance India’s goal of adding 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 and will result in the avoidance of approximately 557,000 tons of CO₂ emissions per year compared to a similar sized coal-fired power plant.

Under the contract, AREVA will build two 125 MW CSP plants using its Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) technology and will provide construction management services for the project. The first phase of the project is under construction, with a target commercial operation date of May 2013. The solar power plants will be located in Rajasthan.

JP Chalasani, CEO of Reliance Power, stated: “Reliance Power is proud to be a leader in India’s clean energy future. Today’s announcement is just the beginning. We look forward to working with AREVA Solar in helping meet India’s clean energy goals through this project.”

AREVA CEO Luc Oursel stated: “AREVA is delighted to help deliver on the promise of India’s progressive solar energy goals and to advance Reliance’s bold vision for a global clean energy portfolio. We will leverage our best-in-class experience to help make India and Reliance global solar industry leaders. Following our success in the French wind offshore sector, this contract reinforces the AREVA strategy in renewable energies.”

The Reliance contract solidifies AREVA Solar’s position as a leading global supplier of CSP solutions for large-scale standalone power plants, power augmentation of fossil-fired power plants and solar hybrid applications, and follows on a series of successes. This project also further strengthens and diversifies AREVA’s low-carbon energy hub in India.

In Australia, AREVA Solar was awarded a contract to build a 44 MW solar thermal addition to the coal-fired Kogan Creek power station, and its energy consortium was selected as the preferred bidder for a 250 MW CLFR power plant under Australia’s Solar Flagships Program. And in the USA, AREVA Solar recently announced a partnership with Tucson Electric Power on a solar augmentation project in Arizona.

In total, AREVA Solar currently has more than 500 MW of CSP projects in operation, under construction or in advanced development, making AREVA one the fastest-growing CSP technology providers.

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AREVA Solar, a subsidiary of the AREVA Group, specializes in the design manufacture and installation of steam generating solar systems for its global power generation and industrial customers in a dependable, competitive and environmentally responsible manner. Please visit www.solar.areva.com for additional information on AREVA’s global energy solutions.

Reliance Power Limited, a part of Reliance Group, is India's leading private sector power generation company. The company has the largest portfolio of power projects in the private sector based on coal, gas, hydro and renewable energy, with an operating portfolio of 1200 MW. The company also has the largest captive coal reserves in the private sector, estimated at more than two billion tonnes. Besides, the company has purchased three coal mines in Indonesia and also has plans to develop coal bed methane based generation capacity.