EGP India - Thar

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  The proposed project involves a debt investment in Thar Surya 1 Pvt. Ltd. (“Project Company”) to finance the  construction of a 300 MWac solar PV project in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India (“Project”). The Project is being developed by one of the step-down subsidiaries of Enel Green Power S.p.A., an existing global client of IFC. The Project was awarded to the Project Company in July 2020 by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the Project will sell the generated electricity to SECI under a 25 year PPA. IFC is the mandated lead arranger for the entire debt portion.  The total cost of the Project is estimated at c. US$ 200 million (including transaction costs). The total debt financing includes (a) IFC’s own account investment of c. US$ 50 million in INR (b) c. US$ 100 million be mobilized by IFC through parallel lenders.  The Project Sponsor is Enel Green Power S.p.A. (“EGP”), which is one of the largest renewable energy (“RE”) developer in the world with 49 GW installed capacity across wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower projects, and with presence in 28 countries. EGP is a subsidiary of Enel S.p.A.   ENEL is an existing IFC client (Wind Brazil #33579) and recent project supervision activities have confirmed that the project E&S performance is currently rated satisfactory. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power Private Limited was appointed as Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the project in November 2020. The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contractor is yet to be finalized.  The route for the external transmission line has been identified, however, as of February 2021 acquisition of the Right of Way (RoW) for the transmission line had not yet started. Initial construction activities are expected to start in March 2021, and commissioning is expected in December 2021. Timeline for completion of the transmission line is in September 2021. Due to the proximity of the site to several towns and cities, the project will primarily use existing access roads, and non-local workers are expected be housed in existing rental accommodations in the nearby towns. Rajasthan is a low-income state in India’s semi-arid northwest. The project area is composed of a mosaic of near-natural and modified habitats. The natural habitat is mainly shrubland-dominated desert dunes. The modified habitat includes patches of arable land and dispersed rural settlements. There are six villages within 5 km of the project area. The total population of these villages as per Census of India 2011 is 4,125. The nearest protected area, Jorbeer Bird Sanctuary, is located 30 km away. The arable lands support only rainfed cultivation, and the shrubland vegetation serve as fodder for local livestock. Non-farming livelihoods are increasingly common, especially among younger generations. There are three other solar power plants under planning or construction stage located within 10 km of the project boundary. One 250 MW plant is operational, a 600 MW plant is under construction and a third plant is too early in the planning stages to confirm generation capacity.