The Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) has retendered 500 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to be developed across Uttar Pradesh. The bid-submission deadline is August 28, 2018.

When contacted, a top UPNEDA official told Mercom, “This is a retendering of the 1 GW, we just cancelled. Now, instead of tendering 1 GW at once, we have split the capacity into two tenders of 500 MW each. Once the first 500 MW is auctioned, only then will we issue the tender for the other 500 MW.”

Mercom reported earlier that UPNEDA cancelled the recent auction for the development of 1 GW of grid-connected solar PV projects across the state as developers had quoted high tariffs. In the auction, ₹3.48 (~$0.050)/kWh tariff had emerged as the lowest (L1) quoted by the developers.

For this 500 MW tender, UPNEDA has fixed an upper tariff ceiling of ₹3.10 (~$0.045)/kWh. When asked about this, the UPNEDA official said, “₹3.10 (~$0.045)/kWh is a good upper ceiling if you take into account other tenders being issued by implementing agencies, both central and state.”

In this tender, a single bidder must bid for a minimum 5 MW and can bid for a maximum 500 MW. Multiple bids by a single bidder are allowed based on project location.

The UPNEDA official further said, “In this tender for 500 MW, we have accommodated recent amendments made by the Ministry of Power.” For a project of up to 250 MW at a single location, the project completion timeframe is 21 months, for a project of more than 250 MW at a single location, the commissioning timeframe is 24 months.

A period of 12 months is being provided to attain financial closure, land acquisition and connectivity agreements.

“We are back to where we were last year. All states want developers to match the low bids they see in other auctions. Solar insolation levels and risks involved in Uttar Pradesh cannot be compared to a SECI auction where the project will be built in Rajasthan, for example. These things must be thought before an auction, not after,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

Recently, the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) had written to the energy minister of Uttar Pradesh to honor the tariffs discovered in the recently concluded 1,000 MW solar auction conducted by UPNEDA.

In the letter, NSEFI had expressed apprehension that the government of Uttar Pradesh may not honor the bidding process due to comparisons of tariff discovered in the 1 GW auction with other auctions conducted across India.