Power purchase agreements (PPAs) for five solar projects with a combined total capacity of 750 MW of grid-connected solar were recently signed by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

Two of the projects were tendered by SECI under the National Solar Mission (NSM), Phase-II, Batch 4 program and are set to be developed in the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, in SECI’s 500 MW Bhadla Phase-III Solar Park auction, ACME won a bid to develop 200 MW of grid-connected solar projects with a tariff of ₹2.44 (~$0.037)/kWh while SBG Cleantech won a bid to develop another 300 MW with a tariff of ₹2.45 (~$0.038)/kWh. These are the lowest solar bids ever recorded in India.

The remaining 250 MW of grid-connected solar project capacity was tendered by SECI in a separate 250 MW Bhadla Phase-IV Solar Park auction. In that auction, Phelan Energy Group, a South African developer foraying into the Indian solar market, won a bid to develop 50 MW with a tariff of ₹2.62 (~$0.041)/kWh; Avaada Power Private Limited, the renewable energy arm of the newly emerged Welspun Energy, won a bid to develop 100 MW at a tariff of ₹2.62 (~$0.041)/kWh; and SBG Cleantech won a bid to develop 100 MW with a tariff of ₹2.63 (~$0.041)/kWh.

Mercom’s source at SECI said, “The PPAs for these projects were signed by SECI and the developers in September 2017. Now the developers have 12 months to complete the projects. By September 2018, all of the 750 MW should be added to the grid if everything goes according to plan.”

When contacted, an SBG Cleantech official told Mercom, “Yes, the PPAs have been signed, there was not much of an issue as SECI is the off-taker.”

Likewise, an ACME executive also confirmed the signing of ACME’s PPA, telling Mercom, “We have entered into a PPA with SECI, the work has begun.”

Both of SECI’s auctions were completed six months ago in May 2017, which indicates that all of the PPAs were signed promptly.

The trend of prompt PPA signing by SECI could be good news for those bidding in another tender that SECI announced in June 2017.

Mercom reported that SECI tendered another 750 MW of solar projects for the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan. The tender came after the Ministry of Power announced that it would extend a 25-year waiver period for inter-state transmission (ISTS) charges to solar projects that are commissioned on or before December 31, 2019. The commissioning deadline for solar projects to take advantage of the waiver was initially set for June 30, 2017. All of the power generated by those projects will be evacuated to Uttar Pradesh to fulfil demand.

Developers still have time to bid in SECI’s latest auction. According a recent SECI update, the bid submission deadline for the 750 MW tender has been extended to December 05, 2017.

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