The tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) to set up 1.2 GW of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects across India has been oversubscribed by 900 MW.

A SECI official confirmed the closing of bid submission and stated that bids totaling 2,100 MW had been submitted against the tendered capacity of 1,200 MW.

According to a market source, “Azure Power, SB Energy, Ayana Renewables, ReNew Power, and UPC Solar have bid for 300 MW of grid-connected solar PV capacity each. Mahindra has bid for 250 MW of solar PV capacity, and Avaada has bid to set up 350 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects.”

SECI had tendered the capacity under tranche-IV in February 2019. The tariff ceiling for this tender was fixed at ₹2.65 (~$0.038)/kWh.

In the most recent SECI auction for 200 MW of solar PV capacity, SoftBank emerged as the lowest (L1) bidder after quoting a tariff of ₹2.82 (~$0.0416)/kWh to develop 200 MW.

Recently, SECI also issued two separate tenders for the development of solar PV power projects totaling 1.4 GW in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. In March 2019, SECI issued a tender for setting up 14 MW of solar power projects with 42 MWh battery energy storage system (7MW/21MWh each) in Leh and Kargil division. Both Leh and Kargil would have a 7 MW solar project with battery storage of 21 MWh each.

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.

Last month, SECI issued a tender for setting up of 1,200 MW ISTS-connected solar power projects with 3,600 MWh storage (ISTS-V) on a pan India basis.