Pavagada Solar Park

The installation spans 5,261 hectares (13,000 acres) containing 2.5 million photovoltaic modules organized into eight separate zones operated by different energy companies, with maintenance roads and monitoring facilities running between extensive panel arrays across semi-arid terrain.

Karnataka Renewable Energy Development and Solar Energy Corporation of India began development in 2015 on leased agricultural land, with operations starting progressively between 2016 and 2018 as the eight zones were completed sequentially and connected to the transmission grid.

The 2017 lease program pays landowners 21,000 rupees annually per acre while maintaining ownership rights, transforming previously unproductive land into revenue sources and creating over 9,000 local jobs in maintenance and operations across five administrative villages.

The facility generates 2,050 megawatts for Karnataka's electrical grid serving surrounding communities, though visitor access is restricted as an active industrial site with security protocols and limited public infrastructure in the surrounding area, which lies 180 kilometers (112 miles) north of Bangalore.

Operations require between 14 and 41 million liters (3.7 to 11 million gallons) of water annually for panel cleaning in a region traditionally affected by drought with average annual rainfall of 562 millimeters (22 inches), raising debates about resource allocation despite renewable energy production.