The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has invited tenders to set up 1,000 MW of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS)-connected wind power projects. The development is in line with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE’s) program to set up wind power projects through reverse auctions. The MNRE has appointed SECI as the nodal agency to oversee the functionality of the program with the last date of bid submission of November 15, 2016.

Under this program, wind power projects will be set up in the eight windy states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Bidders can bid to develop projects with capacities ranging between a minimum of 50 MW and a maximum of 250 MW. The successful bidders will sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) for a 25-year period with PTC India, which has been appointed as the trading agency to carry out the purchase and sale of power from projects developed under this program.

The projects will be developed on a build own operate basis. The scope of work also includes setting up transmission lines up to the delivery point. Incentives in the form of accelerated depreciation, concessional customs and excise duties and tax holidays, and be leveraged by the developer.

Commercial Opening Date (COD) will be declared once 50 MW have been commissioned. The PPA tenure will be counted down from the COD, irrespective, of the date of commissioning of the balance capacity.

The SECI has also mandated that at any point of time should peak of capacity reach higher than rated capacity and cause disturbance in the system, the developer will forego excess generation and reduce the output to the rated capacity to ensure compliance with grid requirement.

According to the request for selection (RfS) document, if there is demand from buyers, the capacity to be developed under this program can go up to 1,500 MW.

India has set a goal of developing 60 GW of wind capacity by 2022; this program coupled with a waiver of inter-state transmission charges and losses for wind and solar projects is expected to provide the desired push to achieve the target, and will also help the country fulfill its commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement of generating 40 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.

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