KfW Grants Rs 600 Cr Loan for 125 MW Solar Project in West Bengal

KfW has granted a Rs 600 crore loan to WBSEDCL for the work on the first phase of a 125 MW solar project in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal.

German state-owned development bank KfW has granted a Rs 600 crore loan to the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) for the work on the first phase of a 125 MW solar PV power project in the Purba Medinipur district of the state.

The news was confirmed by state Power Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. The project to be executed by the WBSEDCL, on completion, will double the state’s installed solar capacity in the state, he said.

The 15-year loan will carry an interest rate of 0.15 percent and cover 80 percent of the total project cost of Rs 750 crore. “For the first phase of the 125 MW solar park at Dadanpatra in Purba Medinipur, the major cost is being funded by the KfW totalling Rs 600 crore at a marginal interest rate of 0.15 percent. We will fund the rest. The total project is of 200 MW,” Chattopadhay told local reporters.

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The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) has given its clearance for the loan from the German state-owned development bank.

The project will require 1,000-acre plot of which 600-acre has been arranged and the rest is in the process of acquisition, he said. WBSEDCL will pump in the remaining Rs 150 crore as equity.

Asked whether the project is facing delay due to COVID-19 pandemic, the minister said, cyclone Amphan and coronavirus-related disruptions had pushed the project but the state was trying for laying the foundation stone for the plant before Durga Puja.

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Earlier in June, WBSEDCL had issued an expression of interest (EOI) for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the turnkey solar power plant under the 125 MW phase-1 of the solar park project. It was reported at the time that funds from German Bilateral Finance Cooperation and matching equity of the Government of WB had been earmarked for the Solar Park Project.

Earlier in May, the WBSEDCL had issued a tender for the geotechnical investigation and measurement of Earth resistivity at the proposed 200 MW (125 MW in 1st Phase & 75 MW in 2nd Phase) solar park site located in Medinipur, West Bengal. The scope of work for the selected firms includes the testing of the soil resistivity in the area as directed by the Controlling Officer of the work by ‘Wenner for electrode method’.