India’s solar sector continues to thrive. In the month of December 2016 alone, 1,776 MW of solar projects were tendered and 100 MW of solar were auctioned.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s solar rooftop program for government buildings and Neyveli Lignite Corporation’s (NLC) push towards green energy accounted for most of the tenders in December.

After the response received for its tender to build a 500 MW solar rooftop system in September 2016, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) announced another tender of 1,000 MW for government buildings and institutions.

In two separate tenders the NLC proposed a total of 750 MW solar. These include 500 MW to be set up in Tamil Nadu and 250 MW in Odisha. In a move to achieve its green energy targets, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) tendered 15 MW of solar to be built at the HAL Ojhar township in Nasik.

Rajasthan Electronic and Instruments tendered a 10 MW (AC) solar project on behalf of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The project will be set up at the ONGC Hazira premises in Gujarat. The New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) also tendered 1 MW of solar that will be used for captive utilization by Vizianagram Municipality.

Under the National Solar Mission Phase-II, Batch-III, Tranche-IV, the SECI auctioned 100 MW of grid-connected solar under the domestic content requirement (DCR) category for the Ananthapuramu solar park in Andhra Pradesh.

In December 2016, the amount of solar tendered was more than double that of November 2016 when 755 MW was tendered. In November, 155.5 MW were auctioned.