SoftBank's Masayoshi Son commits free solar power to India after 25 years agreement

“As long as you have the land and sunshine, as long as you have the eyes and ears listening to me, I will give you free power”, a statement by SoftBank head Masayoshi Son is indeed a good news for International Solar Alliance member-countries if they sign power purchase agreements with the Japanese conglomerate.

However, the proposed agreement clarified that free power to India and other member countries will be provided once the project complete 25 years.

Speaking at the second Re-Invest conference organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Son said that he has this special offer which he discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He added that India, Africa, and Middle East countries have plenty of sunshine and wasteland which can be used as the cheapest power supply source to fulfill the power consumption.

Focusing on India, where Son finds a supportive government, he especially talked about wasteland that is about 13 per cent of the total land area. "This barren land doesn't contribute in agriculture and other productive things, so can be used as the renewable power generation," said Son at the India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, Delhi.

The vision of the government is to generate 500 gigawatts and even double of the proposed figure need less than 1 per cent of the land of India, explained Son.

Currently, SoftBank’s investments in the Indian energy sector are routes through SB Energy--a three-way joint venture of the Japanese major, Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Enterprises, and Foxconn Technology Group.

The development is in the line of company's vision announced in 2015 when it intended to invest around $20 billion in solar projects in India and develop at least 20 gigawatts (GW) capacity of the solar project.

Further, SoftBank aims to invest $1 trillion by 2030 in the Indian renewable energy sector.