NTPC Limited has floated a request for proposal (RfS) to acquire 1 GW of operational solar projects across India.

Interested bidders are expected to submit an earnest money deposit (EMD) of ₹10 million (~$133,576). The last date for the submission of the bids is September 22, 2020.

Promoters, lenders, authorized financial intermediaries of power generation companies, independent power producers, and developers can participate in this tender.

To be eligible to participate in the competitive bidding process, applicants must have operational solar projects of at least 50 MW (AC) at a single location. The projects should have been in operation for at least a year as on the date of the submission of the bid. According to the tender document, the power purchase agreement (PPA) of the solar projects can have a tariff of up to ₹5 (~$0.067)/kWh.

The projects could have been developed either through a special purpose vehicle where the applicant intends to offer their 100% equity for sale to NTPC, or it can be a standalone solar project.

This is in line with NTPC’s plan to expand its renewable energy portfolio to 32 GW by 2032, constituting nearly 25% of its all power generation capacity.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, NTPC currently has 875 MW of large-scale solar projects in operation, and around 2.3 GW capacity is in the pipeline.

According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2020 Solar Funding and M&A Report, solar project acquisition activity was up in 1H 2020 at 14.7 GW, compared to 11.6 GW acquired in the same period last year. Only about 3 GW of solar projects were acquired in Q2 2020 compared to 5.7 GW in Q2 2019. Oil and gas majors were the major acquirers of solar assets in 1H 2020 and accounted for about 6.5 GW (45%) of acquisitions followed by investment firms with 6.1 GW (41%).

Earlier this month, NTPC’s tender for setting up 1.2 GW of solar projects was met with an enthusiastic response from the developers. The tender has been oversubscribed by 500 MW. The tender was floated in February 2020.

Recently, NTPC also invited applications globally to enlist vendors to procure solar modules. The tentative capacity for the procurement of solar modules in the current financial year has been set at 1 GW, while 2-2.5 GW has been planned for the subsequent years.