The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has extended the bid submission deadline to set up 10 GW of ISTS connected solar PV power projects linked with 3 GW (per annum) of solar manufacturing capacity for the fourth time.

The new bid submission deadline is November 19, 2018 and techno-commercial bidding will open on November 20, 2018. According to industry sources, there have been no takers for this mega tender so far.

Mercom reported previously that the first bid submission deadline was extended from August 27, 2018 to September 27, 2018 and again to October 12, 2018. It was extended a 3^rd time to November 12, 2018.

This is the fifth bid submission deadline given by SECI since the tender was floated in May 2018. Initially, the tender was to set up 5 GW of manufacturing capacity across the country. The manufacturing capacity was to be linked to ISTS-connected solar projects for an aggregate capacity of 10 GW.

However, SECI recently announced that it has decided to reduce the capacity of the manufacturing tender from 5 GW to 3 GW. The minimum capacity developers can bid for manufacturing was also reduced from 1 GW to 600 MW.

The goal of the tender is to strengthen the domestic solar supply chain by incentivizing the domestic manufacturing capacity establishment by awarding PPAs to build projects.

Policy uncertainties and tepid interest from project developers have led to numerous deadline extensions in the recent months.

For instance, recently, SECI extended the bid submission deadline for 750 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to be developed on a standalone basis across the state of Rajasthan. The new bid submission deadline is November 22, 2018. The initial deadline was September 14, 2018.

SECI has also extended the bid submission deadline for setting up 150 MW (50 MW x 3) of grid connected floating solar power projects at Rihand Dam in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh to October 25, 2018. Previously, Mercom had reported that SECI extended the bid submission deadline to September 28, 2018 from an earlier deadline of May 31.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer