The Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) has issued a tender for utilization of water bodies (reservoirs, dams, lakes) in Tamil Nadu for development of 250 MW floating solar PV capacity.

The detailed Request for Selection (RfS) will be available for downloading by March 29, 2019.

As implementing agencies and developers both grapple with the issue of land availability, floating solar PV tenders are on the rise as India has a large number of reservoirs, lakes, dams where floating solar PV could be deployed.

On the first day of March 2019, SECI had issued a tender for setting up 150 MW of floating solar PV projects in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Out of 150 MW, 100 MW floating solar power project was to be developed at the reservoir of Getalsud Dam and 50 MW floating solar power project, at the reservoir at Dhurwa Dam.

On March 1, 2019, SECI also issued another lot of tenders. The tenders were for setting up 750 MW of grid-connected solar PV power projects in Rajasthan (Tranche-II Non-Solar Park), for 500 MW of grid-connected solar power projects in Tamil Nadu (Phase-1, Non-Solar Park).

In February 2019, SECI issued a tender for 20 MW of floating solar PV projects with 60 MW Battery Energy Storage System on a turnkey basis in the union territory of Lakshadweep.

In January 2019, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) invited bids for a 15 MW of grid-connected floating solar project at its Koldam hydroelectric power project (HEPP), located in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The same month, NTPC also invited bids for a 20 MW grid-connected floating solar PV project at its Anta gas power station in Rajasthan.

Towards the end of February 2019, the sector witnessed a bouquet of tenders issued by SECI. SECI issued a lot of three tenders- one for 1,200 MW of ISTS-connected solar power projects (tranche-IV), one for 1,200 MW ISTS-connected solar-wind hybrid power projects (tranche-II), and one for the 1,200 MW ISTS-connected solar power projects with 3,600 MWh storage (ISTS-V).