Bidders are reluctant to participate in the tender floated by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) for 1,000 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects at Dholera Solar Park (Phase V). According to market sources, only two entities have submitted bids for the tender.

When contacted, a government official confirmed that bids totaling 300 MW have been submitted by two bidders. The official chose not to disclose the names of the bidders.

According to a market source, “Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL) bid for 50 MW and Tata Power bid for another 250 MW of solar PV capacity.”

GUVNL had tendered the capacity in January 2019, and the upper tariff ceiling for this tender had been set at ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh. Even after four bid extensions, the tender ended up being undersubscribed by 700 MW. The initial bid-submission deadline was set as February 15, 2019. This was postponed to February 25, 2019, and later, the GUVNL yet again postponed the bid-submission deadline to March 5, 2019. The last extension was provided in April 2019.

“The low ceiling tariff and high solar park charges appear to be the likely reasons why private developers haven’t found this tender tempting enough to participate. For government-owned firms, it’s a different game altogether,” added the market source.

This is the second successive tender issued by GUVNL that has been undersubscribed. Recently, its tender to develop 700 MW of solar PV projects under Phase III of Raghanesda Solar Park was undersubscribed by 100 MW. Few developers had stayed away citing low ceiling tariff for this tender. Even this tender’s bidding submission deadline had been extended multiple times but to no avail. GUVNL had retendered this capacity in March 2019 after it was first issued in September 2018. The ceiling tariff for this tender was ₹2.70 (~$0.038)/kWh.

This article has been edited to correct the capacities bid by GIPCL and Tata Power