Phelan Energy Group has announced that it has achieved financial closure for a 50 MW solar project in Rajasthan. The construction of the solar PV project, located at Rajasthan’s Bhadla Solar Park, has commenced and the commissioning is scheduled for October 2018. Tata Power Solar has been contracted to execute the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for this project.

Phelan Energy has been able to raise $40 million from the Power Finance Corporation for this project. In a media statement, the company emphasized that the financial closure for the project was achieved at a time of uncertainty because of the imposition of a 25 percent safeguard duty on solar product imports into India.

“Our organization is fully committed to support the vision of Prime Minister Modi and his team of ministers who are the promoters of a larger share of solar energy capacity within the Indian energy mix. Phelan Energy Group will be part of this ambitious plan and sees India as a steady growth market for the years to come,” added Mr. Paschal Phelan.

Phelan Energy, which recently relocated its headquarters from Cape Town to Dublin, won the project under the Bhadla Phase-IV tender in May 2017 through an auction held by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The company was allocated 50 MW at a tariff of ₹2.62/kWh ($0.036/kWh). Other developers that were allocated projects under this tender were Avaada Power and SoftBank Energy, which won 100 MW each at a tariff of of ₹2.62/kWh and ₹2.63 ($0.036/kWh) respectively.

In May 2017, Mercom had reported on the results of this tender and how intense competition was driving solar tariffs to new lows.

Phelan Energy Group was established in 2005 with a focus on developing renewable energy projects. The company currently has over €3 billion ($3.51 billion) of solar power sales agreements with government-owned power utilities. The company is also developing solar projects in 12 countries. Phelan has executed 175 MW grid-connected solar projects in South Africa and has 250 MW under execution in the Middle East and Asia and a pipeline of more than 2,000 MW in various global markets.

Shaurya is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com with experience working in the Indian solar energy industry for the past four years in various roles. Prior to joining Mercom, Shaurya worked with a renewable energy developer and a consulting company. Shaurya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.