“I won’t be alive by then” replied a farmer while I convinced him to give his land on 25 year lease to build our solar project. South Gujarat, one of the most fertile farming belt in the country, known for its mangoes and sugarcane farms. Also, happened to be the location of my first solar project. The soil is rich, crops abundant and the land prices sky high. For most of the farmers their farmland is their life’s worth of hard work and savings, it is not just a land but their identity. It isn’t a deal, but them trusting you with a part of themselves.
To develop a Solar Park, the generic requirement is to have the land closest to the substation and maximum upto 5 kms. On the map, this 5 kms looked vast, enough to make me overconfident that finding the land would be easy. GIGA’s first project size is around 60 megawatt and spread across 10 locations. Every megawatt of capacity requires 2.5 to 3 Acres of land. The land price per acre could be in the range of 40Lac to 1.5Cr ($45,000 to $175,000). The high land prices only make the solar project feasible when the land is on lease in this particular region.
But, finding land wasn’t just about measuring acres on a map. It was about navigating people’s hopes, fears, and histories. What looked simple on paper turned out to be deeply personal on ground. I began my journey of approaching different landowners and farmers, only to be told
“How do we trust you’ll return our land after 25 years?”.
Despite the challenges faced initially where the deals were closed only for it to get canceled few days later. We at GIGA managed to close north of 150 acres of land on lease across different locations. More than the numbers and contracts, what mattered was understanding what the land meant to its owner.We sat with every landowner, did the math with them, comparing what they make farming sugarcane, mangos and what they’d earn leasing us the land for solar. They started to understand the benefit of having a fixed income for 25 years.
The scale we were able to achieve by accumulating all the land is the network of more than 50 landowners. All from different demographics, different communities and even different countries. Our landowners are from Virginia, USA to Porto, Portugal to London, UK and even Toronto, Canada. People migrated long back in quest of better life but still held on to their farming land.
Getting your hands dirty and putting in the hard work on field can be rewarding. The numbers can be negotiated but trust cannot be. Sometimes you drive 100 kms for 15 minutes of conversation might give them the confidence that their land and legacy are safe for the future. For all solar developers, putting in the extra effort in this phase will pay dividends throughout the 25 year journey. I often recollect the famous line from Uncle Ben to Peter Parker “Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.” I feel the same for trust. Upholding the trust that everyone has shown in me and GIGA is my responsibility.
After visiting so many villages where people live in what feels like the third world state, I had a thought to build and upgrade schools in every village where we develop solar projects. Its just a vision for now but I just wanted to put it out there and hopefully find likeminded people or developers where we can give back at least a bit of what we have received. Sun is for everyone.
