The month of June 2019 witnessed a big surge in tender announcements, compared to just 119 MW tendered in May 2019. Solar project auction activity also increased slightly in the month.

Approximately 13 GW of projects were tendered in June 2019, over 1.7 GW retendered and approximately 3 GW of solar tenders canceled, according to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker. Of the total tendered capacity, the rooftop portion was extremely small with over 20 MW of solar project tendered.

The overall tender and auction activity in June 2019 increased considerably when compared year-over-year to June 2018 in which approximately 7.1 GW of new solar projects were tendered and over 715 MW of solar auctioned.

According to the tender trajectory issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), 30 GW of solar is expected to be tendered in FY 2019-20. So far, around 14 GW have been successfully tendered.

Here is a quick recap of the major tenders and auctions that took place in the month of June 2019:

Major Tenders

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued a tender for 6 GW of the interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects linked with 2 GW of solar manufacturing component and has set the ceiling tariff at ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/ kWh for 25 years.

The SECI also issued two requests for proposals to set up ISTS-connected solar projects totaling 2.4 GW on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. The projects may consist of any number of blocks, each in multiples of 10 MW with a minimum capacity of each block being 20 MW.

The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) issued 1 GW of grid-connected solar PV projects under Phase-II Tranche-I of the Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) program to be developed across the country. The NTPC had also issued a tender inviting government entities to procure power from 1 GW of solar projects.

Retenders

The Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) retendered two solar projects for a total capacity of 950 MW to be developed in the state’s solar parks. Out of the 1,000 MW capacity at the Dholera Solar Park project, 250 MW was auctioned in May 2019, and it has now issued a tender for the remaining 750 MW with a ceiling tariff of ₹2.75 (~$0.040)/kWh. The other tender was to develop 200 MW of projects at the Raghanesda Solar park, which has a capacity of 700 MW.

Canceled Tenders

SECI canceled the 3 GW of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar projects linked with 1.5 GW of solar manufacturing component tender which it had initially floated in January 2019.

Major Auctions

Four solar project developers – NTPC (160 MW), Mahindra Susten (200 MW), Hero Future Energies (250 MW), and Azure Power (70 MW) quoted the lowest tariff of ₹2.50 (~$0.0359)/kWh in the auction held by SECI for 750 MW (Tranche-II) of solar power projects which are slated to be developed in Rajasthan.

SECI auctioned the 1.2 GW (Tranche-IV) ISTS-connected solar projects to be developed in the country. Ayana Renewables quoted the lowest tariff of ₹2.54 (~$0.0366)/kWh to develop 300 MW of projects. SECI had tendered the capacity in February 2019. The ceiling tariff for this tender was set at ₹2.65 (~$0.038)/kWh.