The recent solar tender floated in Maharashtra for 1 GW of grid-connected solar projects under Phase-II tender has managed to attract plenty of bidders and has been oversubscribed by 900 MW.

According to an official at the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), a total of seven solar project developers submitted technical bids aggregating 1,900 MW.

Orange Renewables submitted its bid for 100 MW solar PV capacity, Aqua Pumps for 50 MW, ReNew Power for 300 MW, Avaada Power and Adani for 500 MW each, Tata for 150 MW, and ACME submitted its bid for 300 MW of solar PV capacity, informed the official.

The capacity was tendered in December 2018. Initially, the MSEDCL had fixed an upper ceiling tariff at ₹2.80 (~$0.039)/kWh, and the bid-submission deadline was January 3, 2019. Later, the ceiling was revised to ₹2.90 (~$0.041)/kWh while the bid-submission deadline was extended to January 22, 2019.

The MSEDCL official told Mercom that the response has been good and the next steps in the process will be carried out soon.

Maharashtra has taken huge strides to make up for the delay in adopting renewable energy to meet its increasing energy requirements, especially solar. While the solar tariffs have been falling in the country, the rate of issuing tenders for solar projects has gained momentum in Maharashtra.

Recently, the state also issued a request for selection for the purchase of power from 1,000 MW (100 MW X 10 clusters) of grid-connected floating solar PV power project on Ujjani dam in Solapur district.

A few months ago, the MSEDCL had issued a tender to develop 1,400 MW (AC) of solar projects in 30 circles of the state. These circles have been categorized under four regions: Western Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Marathwada, and the rest of Maharashtra. Before that, another tender for 1 GW of solar projects to be developed under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana was also floated in the state.

Moreover, in December 2018, the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MAHAGENCO) also invited an expression of interest (EoI) to set up a 10 MW grid-connected floating solar project at the Upper Vaitarna reservoir in Nashik district.

This article has been updated with Adani’s bid submission of 500 MW, increasing the total oversubscription to 900 MW

Image credit: Paha Solar