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

The tender was previously reissued in March, while the original tender was issued last year.

According to Mercom’s sources, Vena Energy Renewables, Tata Power, and SJVN, won 100 MW of projects each, while ReNew Power won 200 MW. TEQ Placed bids for 500 MW but was awarded only 200 MW of projects under the bucket-filling method.

Vena Energy Renewables and Tata Power quoted a tariff of ₹2.78 (~$0.0373)/kWh, while ReNew Solar quoted ₹2.79 (~$0.0374)/kWh, SJVN quoted ₹2.80 (~$0.375)/kWh, and TEQ quoted ₹2.81 (~$0.377)/kWh.

Previously, Mercom reported that GUVNL’s tender for 700 MW of grid-connected solar projects in the state’s Dholera solar park (Phase IX) was oversubscribed by 600 MW. The tender received bids amounting to 1.3 GW against the 700 MW capacity that was tendered. Tata Power, Torrent Power, Vena Energy, SJVN Limited, ReNew Power, Juniper Green, O2 Power – together presented bids for 1.3 GW of projects.

The tender was announced with a ceiling tariff of ₹2.92 (~$0.039)/kWh despite the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) announcement that upper ceiling tariffs would no longer be prescribed in the future bids for solar and wind projects. Since this capacity was retendered out of the 1 GW capacity floated last year, it came with a ceiling tariff.

Background:

The tender was originally floated in January 2019, with the upper tariff ceiling of ₹2.75 (~$0.037)/kWh. Even after four bid extensions, the tender ended up being undersubscribed by 700 MW. As bids totaling 300 MW were submitted, GUVNL auctioned 80% of the capacity for which bids were submitted by rounding it off to 250 MW.

Then in May 2019, the state had auctioned 250 MW of solar projects at Dholera Solar Park (Phase V). Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited bid ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh to set up 50 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects while Tata Power won the bid to develop 200 MW at ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh.

The Dholera solar park is expected to cover an area of more than 27,000 acres upon completion. According to the Gujarat state government’s release issued earlier this year, “The proposed solar park will attract investment of ₹250 billion (~$3.84 billion) and provide employment opportunities to more than 20,000 individuals.”

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Gujarat has about 2.4 GW of large-scale solar projects in operation, and approximately 2.3 GW capacity is currently under the development pipeline, as of June 2020.

 

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