The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has extended the bid submission deadline for its tender to procure 5 GW of renewable power on a round-the-clock (RTC) basis complemented with thermal power projects.

The revised deadline for bid submission is now September 1, 2020, for hard copies and August 28, 2020, for soft copies.

Previously, the deadline was extended to August 4, 2020, from June 4, 2020, earlier. The original bid submission deadline for the tender was May 4, 2020, when the tender was back in March 2020.

Background: 

In March 2020, SECI had issued its request for selection (RfS) for renewable energy developers to supply 5 GW of round-the-clock power from grid-connected renewable power projects, bundled with power from coal-based thermal projects in the country.

SECI did not specify an upper ceiling tariff. However, it said a single “composite tariff” would apply to the project.

The tender said that land, connectivity, and long-term open access would be within the scope of the work of the developer. Developers were expected to supply at least 51% of the energy generated annually to come from renewable sources, including energy storage systems if any. The rest could be drawn from existing coal-based thermal energy projects

SECI stated that renewable projects that are already commissioned could not be considered under this RfS, but projects under construction or those that are not commissioned yet will be taken into account. It, however, noted that thermal projects that have already been commissioned or were under construction would be considered as long as they have additional generation capacity available for long-term power supply.

Thermal-based sources can be used to generate power on demand. By combining a conventional source of energy with non-conventional sources, it would be possible to minimize or even negate the effects of intermittency in power generation. So far, one of the only ways to use renewable energy without intermittency issues is with energy storage solutions, which require a large amount of capital expenditure on batteries.

Previously, ReNew Power won SECI’s auction for the entire tendered capacity of 400 MW of renewable power on a round-the-clock basis at a quoted tariff of ₹2.90 (~$0.038)/kWh.

In October last year, SECI had issued a tender to procure 400 MW of renewable energy on a round-the-clock basis. The energy procured through these projects will be supplied to the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.