The government agencies announced about 6.3 GW of tenders in the third quarter Q3 of the calendar year (CY) 2020, an increase of 14% compared to the previous quarter, according to Mercom India Research.

The tender activity saw a decline of 37% when compared to the same period last year. The decrease compared to the previous year may be attributed to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has adversely affected the activity in the industry.

The quarter saw over 3.2 GW of solar auctions, a decrease of 27% compared to the last quarter, and an increase of 81% compared to the same period the previous year.

Tenders in Q3, 2020

In July, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued a request for selection (RfS) to set up 1.07 GW of grid-connected solar projects in Rajasthan (Tranche-III).

SECI accounted for 24% of all the tenders floated in Q3 2020.

Another tender that grabbed the headlines in July was the NTPC Limited’s request for proposal (RfS) to acquire 1 GW of operational solar projects across India.

In August, NTPC invited bids from engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors with land for the development of up to 1.07 GW of solar projects in Rajasthan.

In the same month, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) issued a tender for 279 MW of solar projects across Maharashtra. The project will be partially funded through the corpus India has received from kFW, the German state-owned development bank, towards the cost of ‘scaling up demand-side energy efficiency (sector) project.’

In August, the Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency floated an empanelment tender for rooftop solar projects for a capacity of 10 MW (Category-B) and 5 MW (Category-C) on government buildings in the state.

In another tender, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) issued a request for selection to purchase power from 500 MW of grid-connected solar projects. The month also saw GUVNL retendering the remaining capacity (100 MW) from its earlier tender for purchasing power from grid-connected solar projects in the state’s Raghanesda Solar Park.

The Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited invited bids for a 210 MW grid-connected solar power project in Gujarat’s Jamnagar district.

The SECI invited bids for a 100 MW (AC) solar power project along with a 50 MW/150 MWh battery energy storage system. The project will be developed at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh.

Auctions in Q3 2020

In July, the Tata Power Green Energy Limited received a letter of award (LoA) to develop a 225 MW hybrid renewable power project. The project will supply power to the DISCOM under a power purchase agreement for 25 years.

In August, Vena Energy and JSW Solar won 970 MW of blended wind projects under the SECI’s 2.5 GW auction for interstate-connected (ISTS) blended wind power projects (Tranche IX).

In another auction in August, Vena Energy Renewables, Tata Power, ReNew Power, SJVN Limited, and TEQ Green Power (a subsidiary of O2 Power) were declared winners for 700 MW of solar projects floated by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited’s for Dholera solar park (Phase IX).

O2 Power, Azure Power, Tata Power, and Amp Energy together won 1.17 GW of projects in NTPC’s auction for 1.2 GW of the interstate transmission system (ISTS) connected solar projects.

In September, state-owned SJVN Limited announced that it had bagged a 100 MW project at the Raghanesda Solar Park in Gujarat. In July, GUVNL had retendered 100 MW of capacity unallocated in its previous solar tender for 700 MW of solar projects to be set up at Raghanesda Solar Park (Phase X).

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