Under the tender, solar power developers will earn assured Power Purchase Agreements for double the capacity of a solar manufacturing plant. Thus, the total PV power plant capacity would be 10 GW for setting up a manufacturing capacity of 5 GW.
SECI will enter 25-year PPAs with successful bidders and the solar plants will be allowed staggered commissioning over four years, with a minimum 25% of the cumulative allocated capacity commissioned each year. The maximum tariff payable to project developers has been fixed at INR2.93/kWh ($0.044/kWh).
Developers will be allowed to set up solar plants in parallel with their manufacturing facilities and, according to the SECI circular, projects will be ‘technology agnostic’, meaning manufacturers can use any technology for making modules as long as the materials used in the production process are produced domestically. Polysilicon is the only major raw material that may be imported.
The minimum bidding capacity for each tender is 1 GW of manufacturing linked to 2 GW of assured offtake of power. Single bidders may bid for the entire 5 GW manufacturing capacity linked to 10 GW ISTS-connected solar PV plants which is available under the tender.
Power procured by SECI from the resulting projects has been provisioned to be sold to utilities across India.
The successful developers will be selected through tariff-based competitive bidding followed by an e-reverse auction. Bidding closes on August 27.
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Novel idea indeed. In one shot, a push is given to Make in India and Solar power generation. This increases self reliance, reduces imports, multiplies technical know how cum employment opportunities and divides dependence on foreign countries.