Rewa Mahindra

completed

MAHINDRA RENEWABLES PRIVATE LIMITED (“MRPL” /”the Company”), has been granted, through international competitive bidding, a 250MW solar power project (“the project”) within the 750MWac Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park (solar park) in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, India.  The solar park is being developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), via a transaction advised on by IFC’s Public Private Partnership team.  RUMSL is a joint venture company promoted by Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) – a Madhya Pradesh State Government agency and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) - a Government of India controlled parastatal. MRPL is 100% subsidiary of Mahindra Susten Private Limited (“MSPL” / Sponsor”). Mahindra Susten is a Cleantech arm of the Mahindra group and leading solar EPC services company/contractor in India which offers solar power, renewable energy solutions and utility scale solar plants. The Mahindra group is US $19 billion global federation of companies, headquartered in Mumbai, India, with operations in over 100 countries around the globe.  The letter of award (LOA) was issued to MRPL by RUMSL on 21st February, 2017 appointing MRPL as the project developer to implement the Unit I of the solar park and subsequently, Power Purchase Agreement (PPAs) were executed on 17th April, 2017 between MRPL, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC / Procurer), RUMSL and M.P. Power Management Company Limited (MPPMCL/ Procurer). The solar park is being developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), via a transaction advised on by IFC’s Public Private Partnership team.  RUMSL is a joint venture company promoted by Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) – a Madhya Pradesh State Government agency and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) - a Government of India controlled parastatal.   The solar park is proposed on 1500 hectares (ha) of land acquired by RUMSL across five villages, namely, Badwar, Barsaita Desh, Barsaita Pahad, Etar Pahad and Ramnagar Pahad under Gurh Tehsil in Rewa District.  The entire solar park site lies on plateau lands which form part of the larger Vindhyan Plateau.  The entire solar park site is devoid of vegetation cover and covered with rocky sandstone and minimal topsoil. The solar park is drained by two natural drainage channels that traverse the site diagonally from north east to south west. Though the solar park land is spread across five villages, no residential settlements or hamlets of these villages are located close to the solar park boundary. The nearest residential settlement is few kilometers away from the park boundary. The entire perimeter of the project site will be fenced to a height of around 8 feet and entry to the project site will be regulated.   The solar park is equally divided into 3 units, each of which will have a 250 MWac solar power plant.  MRPL has won project development rights for  Unit I (1235 acres) of the park which is located near villages Badwar and Barsaita.  The company proposes to use combination of  polycrystalline / monocrystalline / thin film modules and fixed tilt / seasonal tilt / tracker technology.   The Company will enter into turnkey EPC contract with one of its group company – M/s Mahindra Susten Private Limited - to execute the construction of the project and operation & maintenance of the project. The project will be completed and commissioned in stages starting from February 2018 and the final handover date is December 2018. Around 500 - 550 workers are expected to be employed during peak construction, and around 65 employees will be required to operate the plan during operations, excluding another 100 or so part-time unskilled workers who will be involved in panel cleaning. A worker accommodation camp housing about 200 persons will be established within the site boundary during the construction phase. The proposed IFC investment involves a straight senior loan up to INR 3200 million (equivalent of US$50 million) and may assist in mobilization of the syndicated parallel loan of up to another INR 6400 million (equivalent of US$100 million) (together “the Investment”). Proceeds from the IFC investment will used by the company for the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of a solar photovoltaic plant of 250 MWac (Unit I in the solar park). IFC Board has approved to finance two more projects in the same solar park (both the projects have been disclosed at (https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/projectDetail/ESRS/39866 and https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/projectDetail/ESRS/39711).  The company has a land use permission agreement with RUMSL for the  482.594 ha of land allocated for Unit I.  RUMSL is responsible for providing encumbrance free land, evacuation infrastructure and other common facilities consisting of the following: •   A 33/220 kV Unit substation inside the allocated premises; and •   A 220 kV transmission line for evacuation of power from this substation to a new grid sub-station. The operation and maintenance (O&M) of these evacuation assets will be undertaken by the respective project developers, such as MRPL.  Power from individual units will be evacuated to a new 220/400 kV solar park grid sub-station being constructed by M/s Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) – a Government of India owned power transmission utility company - on 18 ha of land within the solar park premises. The solar park will be connected to the national grid via a 32km long 400kV transmission line being constructed by PGCIL between the grid sub-station and Vindhyachal-Jabalpur 400 kV DC Line and is expected to be commissioned by in 2-3 months’ time. A 2 lane concrete road designated as National Highway (NH39) between Rewa-Gurh-Sidhi towns has been completed and provides access to Unit I site on its northern boundary.  Within the unit, the internal roads are to be developed by the company.