The Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has once again extended the bid submission deadline for its tender that calls for the development of 700 MW of solar projects at the Dholera Solar Park.

The reason for the extension is the national lockdown announced to arrest the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

The deadline for the submission of bids has been extended to July 31, 2020, which was earlier May 30, 2020. The earlier deadline of May was extended from the previous deadline of April 30, 2020.

The technical bid opening date has now been extended to August 04, 2020, from June 01, 2020, and the financial bid opening will take place on August 13, 2020.

Out of the total 1,000 MW capacity (20×50) at Dhorela Solar Park, 300 MW (6×50 MW) has already been auctioned. In March this year, GUVNL retendered for the remaining capacity of 700 MW at the solar park.

The ceiling tariff for the tender has been set at ₹2.92 (~$0.039)/kWh. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had recently stated that the upper ceiling tariffs would no longer be prescribed in future bids for solar and wind projects. However, since the 700 MW capacity was retendered out of the 1 GW capacity floated last year, it still came with a ceiling tariff.

Upon completion, the Dholera Solar Park will cover an area of more than 27,000 acres, and it will be home to 5 GW of solar power projects. According to a Gujarat state government release issued earlier, “The proposed solar park will attract investment of ₹250 billion (~$3.84 billion) and provide employment opportunities to more than 20,000 individuals.”

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Gujarat accounts for 2.4 GW of large-scale solar projects in-operation, while nearly 2.3 GW is under development pipeline as of March 2020.

Image credit: Lightrock Power