A 750 MW solar tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has been oversubscribed by 350 MW today.

A SECI official confirmed the closing of bid submissions to Mercom adding that bids totaling 1,100 MW have been submitted against the tendered capacity of 750 MW. He, however, did not divulge the details of individual capacities bid by developers.

According to Mercom’s market source, “Ayaana Renewables submitted its bid for 250 MW, ReNew Power for 140 MW, NTPC for 160 MW, Azure for 100 MW, Mahindra for 200 MW and Hero Future Energies bid for 250 MW”.

The tender floated in March 2019, was issued for projects in the state of Rajasthan. According to the RfS, a single bidder had to bid for a minimum of 10 MW and a maximum of 750 MW. The projects are to be developed on build own operate basis, and the scope of work includes acquiring the land, developing the project, connectivity, and long-term open access.

The projects are to achieve financial closure within 12 months from the effective date of the PPA, with the scheduled commissioning date for the full capacity of the project being 18 months from the date of the PPA, the RfS added.

The projects are to be designed for interconnection with the nearest substation at a voltage level of 33 kV or above, with the maintenance of the transmission system up to the interconnection point will be the responsibility of the successful bidder. SECI is to enter into a power purchase agreement with the successful solar project developers for 25 years, and the upper ceiling tariff at ₹ 2.68 (~$0.039)/kWh, was set by SECI.

In August 2018, SECI had tendered the 750 MW in Rajasthan with the same upper tariff limit. It was reported by Mercom in February 2019 when that tender for solar PV projects to be developed on a standalone basis across the state of Rajasthan was oversubscribed by 1,620 MW. Bids totaling 2,370 MW were submitted in response to the tendered capacity of 750 MW.

Just a few days ago, another tender floated by  SECI to set up 1.2 GW of the interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar projects across India had been oversubscribed by 900 MW. In this tender, bids totaling 2,100 MW had been submitted against the tendered capacity of 1,200 MW.

Soumik is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, Soumik was a correspondent for UNI, New Delhi covering the Northeast region for seven years. He has also worked as an Asia Correspondent for Washington DC-based Hundred Reporters. He has contributed as a freelancer to several national and international digital publications with a focus on data-based investigative stories on environmental corruption, hydro power projects, energy transition and the circular economy. Soumik is an Economics graduate from Scottish Church College, Calcutta University.