Indian solar project may help SA

  1. Posted on Thursday 10 September 2009 - 10:42
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    Peter Griffiths, AfricaNews reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa
    India and the Clinton Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build the world's largest solar plant as part of a project called Integrated Solar City. Experts say it could be good news for South Africa.
    Solar_Panels
    The 3000MW plant, which is set to go up near the border shared by Pakistan, is backed by efforts of local government to drastically increase solar power usage in the state of Gujarat. Local government has already offered 35 000km2 of land in the Thar Desert and 25-year fixed-rate tariff contracts to incentivize the uptake of solar.

    Under the MoU, the Clinton Foundation would help fund the $5-billion project. The hope is that the size of the project would help drive down the cost of producing solar energy, which would enable the foundation to provide assistance in other parts of the world, notably South Africa.

    South Africa has abundant solar reserves, but has been unable to take advantage of this because of the relatively high cost of equipment, AfricaNews reporter said. The foundation has already suggested it is interested in providing assistance to South Africa from its estimated $12-billion that is available for renewable energy projects. This, coupled with falling costs could help put South Africa on the "solar map".

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