India plans five “ultra-mega” solar energy parks

Could have a capacity of 18 GW in the next 10 years. The Indian government is inviting bids for constructing a 1 GW plant by March 2014, the first segment of a 4 GW solar park to be set up in Sambhar, Rajasthan. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said the project is the first step in a plan to build five ultra-mega renewable parks generating a total of 18 GW over the next 10 years. The ultra-mega parks, however, will all be built in the desert wastelands of Rajasthan and Gujarat and the cold deserts in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.