The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has announced that it will tender 20 GW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in coming years.

The decision was announced at the ninth monthly Get Together and Stakeholders Meet organized by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on January 24, 2018 in Rohini, New Delhi.

“The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has given a go ahead to NTPC to tender these projects (20 GW),” said Surinder Raina, the executive director of NTPC.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, as of December 2017, 19.5 GW of solar had been installed across India and another ~10.6 GW of solar were in the development pipeline. NTPC said it will tender almost one third of all the proposed large-scale solar capacities by 2022.

According to Raina, NTPC must abide by the guidelines of the MNRE directive that mandate the bidding for 20,000 MW under development mode should be done immediately.

“We are trying to do this by going to each state in order to identify the land and ascertain who will buy the power generated. Once this is done with due diligence, we will issue the notice inviting tender shortly,” Raina added.

NTPC is also expected to issue tenders for a 250 MW solar project for the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and for another 750 MW solar project in Anantapuram village in Andhra Pradesh.

In the near future, NTPC is likely to issue tenders for the development of two solar projects in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is also in the process of deliberating with a few other states like Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Maharashtra for the development of solar projects in these states.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, the NTPC has a total large-scale solar installed capacity of 870 MW as of December 2017.

Image credit: NTPC