The parks will cover 5,000 hectares of “wasteland” along Gujarat’s northwestern border with Pakistan, near the towns of Patan, Banaskatha, Kutch and Surendranagar. They will utilise concentrating solar-thermal technology.

The projects will consume an estimated 500bn rupees ($10.3bn) of investment over the next several years, most of which will be raised through corporate partnerships brokered by the CCI, a non-profit organisation established by former US President Bill Clinton. The CCI is already working on similar CSP projects in California, South Africa and Australia.

“We chose Gujarat because of the state’s potential and its policy framework,” says CCI chairman Ira Magaziner. “A lot of people are talking about renewable energy, but Gujarat has acted.”

The CCI will initially set up two Gujarati solar parks totalling between 700 megawatts (MW) and 800MW each, with another two to follow in several years. State-owned utilities will be required to buy the electricity produced by the arrays.

Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, says the projects will create 20,000 jobs over the next decade, ushering in a new era of prosperity in the "wasteland" regions where they will be built.

The announcement comes as India continues fleshing out its plans for solar energy at breakneck speed, as it scrambles to carve out a niche for itself in the fast-emerging global renewables industry. The blueprint for India’s National Solar Mission, details of which were leaked in June, will be officially unveiled on 14 November.

The National Solar Mission aims to have 20GW installed across India by 2020; 100GW by 2030; and 200GW by 2050. It will also mandate that every fossil fuel plant built on Indian soil must have an on-site solar array equivalent to 5% of its total power output.