India Scouts For Wind Sites In Preparation For More Tenders
India has asked states to identify land to set up large-scale wind energy projects as project developers continue to stay away from state and central government agencies.
Multiple media reports claim, citing sources from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, that states rich in renewable energy potential have been asked to identify land to set up large-scale wind energy projects. Business daily Economic Times quoted MNRE sources stating that discussions are underway with government officials from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. 
Identification and clear demarcation of land for solar and wind energy projects is critical for project developers to bid in wind and solar power tenders issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and state governments.
A number of wind and solar-wind hybrid tenders recently issued by SECI and state governments have either been under-subscribed by project developers or have seen no bids at all. The state of Tamil Nadu had offered wind and solar power tenders with a capacity of 500 megawatts each but did not get any bids. The state has now decided not to issue any other tenders, and instead it shall procure renewable power through SECI.
Gujarat reported that it received bids for just 931 megawatts in a wind energy tender where 1 gigawatt of capacity was offered. The state finally auctioned 745 megawatts only. The seventh edition of the national-level wind energy auctions organized by SECI attracted bids for just 600 megawatts against an offered capacity of 1.2 gigawatts.
The second edition of the national-level solar-wind hybrid tender also attracted just two bids for 900 megawatts against the offered capacity of 1.2 gigawatts. During the first edition of the tender SECI had offered 2.5 gigawatts which was later reduced to 1.2 gigawatts due to poor interest from project developers. The revised tender, however, was under-subscribed with just two developers bidding for 1.05 gigawatts.
Wind Power Monthly reported that the state of Gujarat plans to reserve land to support 30-gigawatt of wind or solar-wind capacity — 20 gigawatts for projects under the central government policies and 10 gigawatts under the state government policy. Both, the Economic Times and the Wind Power Monthly concur in reporting that the states of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have pledged to reserve land to support installation of 8-gigawatt, 19-gigawatt and 5-gigawatt wind energy capacity, respectively.
With these pledges and culmination of the general elections, SECI is expected to issue tenders for wind energy projects soon.
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