Dholera Solar Park Ready to Issue its First 1 GW Tender in August

The Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) in Gujarat is expected to issue its first 1,000 MW tender in the coming month of August.

Back in June, the Indian government announced that it had given a go-ahead to the country’s largest-ever solar farm, to be set up in Gujarat. The approval came after assent from the state government of Gujarat in April for the same. The planning permissions were granted by the government for what is to become the country’s biggest and globally one of the largest solar farms upon its completion. The approval for the 5,000 megawatts (MW) solar farm was announced by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, stating that the first phase of the project of 1,000 MW will be put out to accept tenders very soon. (read that report)

Although initially, plans were to release the tenders for the first phase back in June, the site and the board is now ready to float its first phase tenders worth a total capacity of 1,000 MW.  However, the details and terms of the tender have not been disclosed yet.

The project being worked in a collaboration between The Gujarat Power Corporation (GPCL), Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL), Gujarat Electric Transmission Corporation (GETCO), and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is expected to attract investments worth ₹25,000 crores and provide employment opportunities to more than 20,000 individuals. And upon completion is expected to span over 27,000 acres across the Dholera plains of Gujarat.

“This is going to be the largest single-location ultra-mega solar park of 5,000 MW in the country. We are hopeful of inviting bids for the first 1,000 MW in the next one month,” Jai Prakash Shivahare, managing director of Dholera Industrial City Development Corporation (DICDC) said while addressing the press.

Gujarat government is also keen on adopting hybrid power projects which will work around the day and take advantage of the states coastline blessed with strong winds and abundant sunlight. The government recently announced a new solar plus wind hybrid power policy (read that report).
in a bid to promote the simultaneous production of wind and solar power in the state. The state government has also planned a 200 MW wind park with an investment of ₹1400 crores in Dholera.

M.K. Das, the principal secretary in the government of Gujarat, said, “We expect a very good response as the capacity we are offering is massive, which will not only give economies of scale to developers but also benefit from development happening in the Dholera region.”

The past year saw many tenders but the state only managed to add around 280 MW to its solar capacity, a number far off from what was expected when the year started.

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