Three Indian States Issue 1.25 Gigawatt Solar & Wind Tenders

Following the central government’s cue, a number of Indian states have stepped on the gas with regards to issuance of renewable energy tenders. Leading states in renewable energy installed capacity are dishing out tenders one after the other while some new states are issuing large tenders for the first time.

The north Indian state of Uttarakhand has issued a tender for 200 megawatts of solar power capacity. The tender represents the first major solar power tender issued by the state. Project developers would be able to bid for capacities ranging from 10 kilowatts to 5 megawatts per project, with the maximum cumulative bid allowed by a company or group of companies with a single parent of 50 megawatts. No maximum tariff bid has been set for the reverse auction. 

Uttarakhand has an installed solar power capacity of around 100 megawatts. The state is rich in hydro power resources and has so far stayed away from developing large-scale solar power projects. The state issued a solar power policy in 2013 that targeted 500 megawatts of installed capacity by the end of year 2017. The latest amendment to this policy does not include any installed capacity. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), however, has recommended an installed capacity target of 800 megawatts for the state by March 2022.

The state of Maharashtra has also issued a tender calling upon developers to set up 450 megawatts of solar power capacity across four small solar power parks. The capacity offered in each solar park is in the range of 60 megawatts to 170 megawatts.

These solar parks seem to have been conceptualized in the last few months as they are not included in the list of approved solar power parks issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Maharashtra has an installed solar power capacity of 1.3 gigawatts and plans to add 3.2 gigawatts capacity over the next two years. The MNRE has recommended an installed capacity target of almost 12 gigawatts by March 2022 for the state.

The state had recently issued a separate 1 gigawatt solar power tender which received a huge response from project developers. Bidders in the first round offered to set up as much as 1.9 gigawatts of capacity against the offered capacity of just 1 gigawatt.

The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has issued a tender inviting project developers to set up solar-wind hybrid projects with storage capability. The tender has been issued within weeks of issuance of a policy issued by the state government to promote the implementation of hybrid projects. The tender terms allow for a company to bid for total capacity between 200 megawatts and 60 megawatts.

A renewable energy policy issued by the Andhra Pradesh government last year sets an installed capacity target of 18 gigawatts by March 2022. This target accounts for more than 10% of the 175 gigawatts target set for the national level. At the end of 2018, the state had an installed capacity of 17.7 gigawatts across all technologies, including 7.4 gigawatts of renewable energy, accounting for an impressive 42% share in the state installed capacity. Andhra Pradesh did have a 10% share in the national-level installed renewable energy capacity at the end of 2018.