The Hindu Business Line : Clinton Foundation seeks land for power plant in Anantapur

Hyderabad, July 29 The Bill Clinton Foundation has approached the Andhra Pradesh Government for setting up a mega solar-cum-wind power plant in the drought-hit Anantapur district.

According to official sources the foundation has sought thousands of acres in Anantapur for setting up the plant, which would see substantial investment.

“A delegation of the foundation led by international head, Mr Ira Magaziner, was recently shown suitable area in the perennially drought-hit district,” the official said.

He added that the delegation has already visited Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and Rann of Kutch region in Gujarat for setting up the unit.

“The delegation after a visit to the location said that a final decision will be taken after looking at data pertaining to number of sunny days in a year and the solar radiation index data.

“Also they said that the speed of wind will also be an important factor that will be taken into consideration for setting up the facility,” he said.

“Even though Jaisalmer is hotter than Anantapur, the sunny days are longer in Anantapur. Also, the lower the radiation the higher will be the requirement for land we are ready to provide,” the official said.

Earlier proposals

Originally the land that the delegation saw was to have been allotted for a science city project — which was to have been built by a multi-national consortium comprising Jurong International Group of Singapore with a projected investment of about $25 billion over 10 years.

Later, Ras al-Khaimah proposed setting up an educational city in the same area. However, since they have not come back with the project report either the State is said to be actively considering the proposal of the Clinton Foundation.

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