SECI Extends Deadline for 10 GW of Solar Power, Again.

State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on Thursday extended the deadline for its 10 GW of solar power tender till 12 October. This is the second such extension by SECI as the auction failed to find any interest from the sector. And according to industry sources the auction was able to source only one bidder.

The state agency suggested that the deadline has been extended on bidders request for extending time for securing tie-ups for domestic manufacturing and completing ongoing negotiations for sourcing modules at better prices. Project developers meanwhile, indicated that they had abstained from bidding as the project was unviable.

According to Solar Power Developers, the project does not seem viable with the tariff capped at ₹2.75 per unit. SPDs also note that lenders find it difficult to finance a project having both generation and manufacturing in one solar PV project, as manufacturing is considered a high risk task. However, SECI officials maintained that the deadline was being extended following requests from bidders.

A SECI statement said, “The last date of submission of bids is hereby extended till 6 pm on October 12, 2018. The techno-commercial bid opening shall be carried out from 11 am on October 15, 2018.”

As per the tender document, bidders were allowed to bid for a minimum capacity of 1 GW of manufacturing linked to 2 GW of assured off take of power. However, bidders were also permitted to bid for the entire 5 GW manufacturing, linked to 10GW Power Plant for which assured offtake was given. The slab for bidding was 1 GW each and capacity(ies) were to be allocated on bucket filling basis.

But earlier this month, we reported that linked to a 10 GW Power Purchasing Agreement, SECI amended its tender for a 5 GW solar component manufacturing tender to 3 GW manufacturing, which was the first solar tender where developers were required to locally produce equipment, to win projects.

As a part of the amendments made to the tender, the minimum manufacturing tender capacity was reduced to 600MW from the previous 1 GW and developers were guaranteed PPAs of 2,000 MW for a manufacturing capacity of 600 MW, therefore the total power projects awarded will remained at 10 GW.

The reduced the maximum tariff payable to developers from Rs. 2.93 now stands at Rs. 2.75 (excluding safeguard tariffs).