India Plans 1 GW Rooftop Solar Tender For Government Buildings

India recently floated a draft document aimed at auctioning 1,000 MW of rooftop solar power capacity to be installed atop government buildings.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued the document, which divided the 1,000 MW capacity allocation into two modes — one based on total cost of the project and, second, on the tariff.

As per the proposal, a total of 600 MW of capacity will be allocated on the basis of bids for the total cost of the project — capex mode — while the balance 400 MW will be auctioned on the basis of tariff bids — resco mode.

Capex mode is further divided into two subcategories of 400 MW and 200 MW. The largest will have projects ranging between 25 kW and 500 kW, while the smaller category will have projects with sizes up to 25 kW. A developer can bid for an aggregate capacity of 500 kW to 40 MW in the larger category and between 100 kW to 8 MW in the smaller category. The highest bid allowed for capex projects is Rs 75/watt (US$1.12/watt).

Project size in the resco mode will vary between 25 kW and 500 kW. A single developer will be able to bid for minimum aggregate capacity of 1 MW up to 80 MW. The maximum tariff available for these projects will vary from Rs 5.37/kWh (US¢8.00/kWh) and Rs 7.00/kWh (US¢10.00/kWh), depending on the location of the project.

Projects across all categories will be allocated through reverse auction.

If the developers achieve construction and commissioning milestones according to the scheme guidelines, they will be eligible for financial incentive and subsidies ranging between US$112/kW to US$674/kW depending on the progress made and the location of the project.

Earlier this year, MNRE had identified various central government agencies where almost 6 GW of rooftop solar capacity could be installed.