The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has floated a tender for 600 MW of interstate transmission system (ISTS) connected wind energy projects in the country.

The last date for the submission of bids is March 30, 2020. Interested bidders are required to make an earnest money deposit (EMD) of ₹600,000 (~$8,367)/MW.

A pre-bid meeting will be held on March 16, 2020, according to the notice issued by the NTPC. Documents with further details will be made available shortly. Mercom will publish another article with the necessary tender details after they are made publicly available.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, NTPC has 875 MW of large-scale solar projects in operation, and about 2.1 GW capacity is currently under development. According to NTPC, its total installed wind capacity currently stands at 870 MW.

Previously, Mercom reported that the National Thermal Power Corporation invited bids to select developers for 1,200 MW of wind energy projects in India. These projects, which will be connected to the interstate transmission system, can be developed anywhere in the country. Project sizes under this tender were expected to range between 50 MW and 600 MW in capacity. NTPC will enter into a power purchase agreement with the wind power developers forv25 years from the signing date of the PPA. The maximum tariff payable to each developer has been set at ₹2.85 ($0.040)/kWh for a term of 25 years.

Earlier, the NTPC issued a tender to procure 100 MW of power from solar or wind power projects. The bid submission deadline was September 11, 2019. Technical bids were opened on September 12, 2019, and financial bids on September 13, 2019. The NTPC was to sign a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the selected bidders for the purchase of power for one month from the starting date of the power procurement from the project. The power procured was to be utilized for the flexible generation of its thermal power projects.

Wind installations were flat in India with 2.4 GW of wind power capacity added in the calendar year 2019, compared to 2.3 GW 2018. The cumulative wind power installations stood at 37.5 GW at the end of 2019, according to the data from government agencies, compiled by Mercom India Research.