Rewa Ultra Mega Solar

Rewa Ultra Mega Solar is the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier. It is one of the largest solar power plant in India[3] and Asia's Largest Single site solar plant.[4] It is an operational ground mounted, grid-connected photovoltaic solar park spread over an area of 1,590 acres (6.4 km²) in the Gurh tehsil of Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh.[2] The project was commissioned with 750 MW capacity in December 2019.[5]

Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power Project
Country	India
Location	Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh
Coordinates	24.4802°N 81.5744°E / 24.4802; 81.5744
Status	Commissioned
Commission date	5 July 2018
Construction cost	₹4,500 crore (US$658 million)
Owner(s)	Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited Solar Energy Corporation of India
Operator(s)	Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL)
Solar farm
Type	Flat-panel PV
Site resource	5.0-5.5 kWh/m2 per day[1]
Site area	1,590 acres (6.4 km2) [2]
Power generation
Units operational	3 x 250 MW
Nameplate capacity	750 MW

Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), the implementing agency of the project, is a joint venture between the Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikash Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). RUMSL was set up in July 2015 with Manu Srivastava, Principal Secretary, New & Renewable Energy, Government of Madhya Pradesh as its Chairperson, and he continued as its Chairperson till the completion of the project.

For all solar parks in India, development of land and associated infrastructure are undertaken by state-led Solar Power Park Developer, while conceptualization, market consultations, financial and legal structuring and bid process management are activities undertaken by federal companies, viz., NTPC and SECI. RUMSL, though created only in July 2015, led at the State level and having Rewa as its first project, has the distinction of being the only entity in the country to have undertaken both these roles.

While earlier projects by federal companies were awarded with target tariff of Rs.4.50/unit and the bidding was on Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to reach the target tariff, Rewa project went ahead without any VGF support and achieved a first year tariff of Rs. 2.97/unit. This has been the first project in India with rates of solar power below those of coal-based power, which is presently around Rs 4.50/unit and is expected to increase over the years.

Rewa is the first project in India to be supplying power to an inter-state open access customer, viz., Delhi Metro. This is also the first project in India where solar power would be used for railway traction.

The project got World Bank Group’s President’s Award for excellence for its transaction structure.

The bidding for Rewa went on for 33 hours on February 9 and 10, 2017. Power Purchase Agreements and all other agreements of the project were signed on April 17, 2017 in Bhopal in the presence of Shivraj Singh Chouhan Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Venkaiah Naidu then Minister of Urban Development and Piyush Goyal then Union Minister of Power, Coal, Mines and New & Renewable Energy. The project was part commissioned on July 5, 2018. Supply to Delhi Metro commenced on April 18, 2019. The project was completed on January 3, 2020. The project was formally inaugurated on July 10, 2020 by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

The Project secured a place in the book on innovations, ‘New Beginnings’ released by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, which is a publication of Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, GoI.

Rewa Solar plant is India’s first solar project to get funding from Clean Technology Fund (CTF), which is available at a rate of 0.25% for a 40-year period, and from the World Bank. This has enabled Rewa Project to have very low solar park charges, which was one of the contributing features behind the low tariff achieved in Rewa Project.

Minister of State for Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal informed the Lok Sabha in July 2014 that the government intended to construct a 750 MW solar park in Rewa.

PGCIL was awarded the contract for developing the 220/400 KV substation for the evacuation of power from the project site to different consumers. M/S Alstom was selected by PGCIL to develop the construction of substation work. Internal infrastructure for the project was developed by the RUMSL. RUMSL developed the project site which allowed developers to set up the unit without worrying about the evacuation infrastructure.