Moser Baer, SunEnergy team for 1 MW Chandrapur plant

Mahagenco, the power generation company owned by the government of Maharashtra, said it has awarded Moser Baer India (BOM:517140) the engineering-procurement contract for a 1-megawatt solar power project in the western Indian state.

Moser Baer plans to complete the project by January 2010 in the district of Chandrapur. It's expected to be one of the largest amorphous silicon thin-film photovoltaic power plants in the world.

Germany-based SunEnergy was named as Moser Baer's partner in the deal. The pair wereamong 20 bids across the globe for the project.

Moser Baer is one of seven companies seeking to build solar-module manufacturing facilities in Gujarat, considered the twin state of neighboring Maharashtra.

Those companies are looking to supply modules to the 34 solar farms recently approved by the Gujarat government, expected to have 716 MW of energy-generating capacity (see Seven solar makers eye Gujarat for new production facilities).

Maharashtra is a popular destination for solar projects. In January, the Indian government tapped the cities of Kalyan and Dombivli in Maharashtra as two of the 11 future hubs for solar energy adoption (see India taps Dombivli, Kalyan as future solar hubs).

India’s Acme Group is building a 5-MW solar thermal power plant in Maharashtra (see Acme plans to beat eSolar on cost of solar thermal in India).

And Germany's Juwi Solar Energy and India's Resun Energy are teaming up for a 500 MW solar PV energy project at Jakakur in Maharashtra's Osmanabad district (see Inside cleantech India: Kal, Aaj aur Kal!).