Ayana Renewable Power and Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd., a global leader in solar innovation and channels, today announced the completion and commercial operation of the 192-megawatt (MW) Bikaner 1 Solar Farm, a utility-scale power plant in the state of Rajasthan, India. Built in the second half of 2021 and commissioned in December 2021, this solar power plant utilizes a total of nearly 398,000 Performance 3 UPP solar panels from Maxeon Solar Technologies. The Bikaner 1 project is the largest Indian power plant project to utilize Maxeon’s Performance line panels.
Maxeon’s Performance line panels are the most deployed shingled-cell panels in the solar industry, and the Performance 3 UPP panels are engineered to meet the unique needs of large-scale power plants. With a rated efficiency of up to 20.9%, Performance 3 panels optimize power density and lower system cost. They are also designed to stand up to environmental stresses such as shading, daily temperature swings, and high humidity. The Thar Desert, where Bikaner is located, can reach temperatures of around 50oC in the summer, while also dipping as low as -4oC in the winter. Maxeon’s shingled cell panel technology is specifically engineered to offer superior long-term reliability in such harsh environments.
At COP26, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nation’s renewable energy deployment commitments, pledging to reach 500GW of domestic renewable capacity. With this commitment, India’s renewables will account for 50 per cent of its energy mix by 2030. Ayana’s Bikaner 1 solar power plant project will contribute to this ambitious goal.
Jeff Waters, CEO of Maxeon Solar Technologies, said “We’re pleased to have supplied the Bikaner 1 Solar Farm with our high-reliability, high-efficiency Performance 3 solar panels. This is the largest utility-scale project that we have supplied in India, and it is yet another example of how our utility scale customers trust Maxeon for their solar power plants around the world. We see major opportunities in the global power plant market, and Maxeon is well positioned to provide large-scale plant owners and operators with products that enhance the reliability and long-term energy delivery of their projects.”
The Bikaner 1 power plant is forecast to produce approximately 800, 000 MWh per year and will remove 650,000MT of carbon emissions every year.
Shivanand Nimbargi, MD & CEO of Ayana Renewable Power commented “At Ayana, our vision is to create significant renewable power generating capacity across India, complimenting it with an agenda that reaches out to the communities of our nearby site locations where such capacity will be created. We are happy to choose Maxeon that can reliably deliver a world-class, better performing, highly reliable panel technology with a proven track record. Bikaner 1 is an important milestone that will allow us to meet the objective of a faster transition to low carbon power generation and contributing towards the development of local communities in parallel.”
Maxeon’s solar product and manufacturing processes are one of the most reliable and most sustainable in the PV industry. Over 9GW of Performance panels have been deployed worldwide since 2015 and Maxeon continues to see robust demand for its Performance line products around the world.
