Indian solar company launches tender for 1.785GW photovoltaic project

    The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has launched the fourth round of bidding for Household Solar Power solar projects in Rajasthan, which is the development of 1,785 MW solar projects.

    The final date for online bid submission is April 15, 2021, and the bid results will be announced on April 20. The winning bidder will have to submit 800,000 rupees (approximately $10,944) as a performance bank deposit.

    The scheduled date for the commissioning of all production capacity of the project is 18 months from the effective date of the power purchase agreement.

    According to the tender documents, the electricity purchased by SECI from the project will be sold to the Distribution Company of Rajasthan (DISCOM).

    For each project, the minimum capacity will be 10 MW and the maximum capacity will be 1785 MW. The project capacity should only be expressed as an integer value. The project should be designed to be interconnected with the nearest substation of a public power transmission company (STU) with a voltage rating of 33 kV or higher. The responsibility for establishing a connection with STU's transmission system will be borne by the developer, and the developer shall bear the cost.

    The declared annual capacity utilization rate (CUF) shall not be lower than 17% under any circumstances. SECI will, at its discretion, purchase additional power generation exceeding 10% of the contractual energy limit stipulated by the annual CUF.

    In November last year, SECI set a record for the lowest price in the auction of 1,070 MW solar projects in Rajasthan, with an electricity price of US$0.0270/kWh. This price is about 15.3% lower than the low price of $0.0319/kWh previously found by SECI in the June 2020 auction.

    According to Mercom's India solar tender tracking report, SECI has released three rounds of solar tender projects in Rajasthan, totaling 2,570 MW.