- Hoping to attract more investor interest, the tariff cap has been set at Rs 2.75/unit
- A RfS notice has been issued for setting up 6 GW (per annum) of solar power plants linked to 2 GW of solar manufacturing plant
- A bidder can quote any capacity up to 1.5 GW of solar power projects linked to 0.5 GW of solar manufacturing capacity
- A total of four such projects have been put up for bidding
More than a year and 10 extensions later, the Union government has revised the tender specifications for the first solar manufacturing-linked power plant project in the country.
Hoping to attract more investor interest, the tariff cap has been set at Rs 2.75/unit.
A bidder can quote any capacity up to 1.5 GW of solar power projects linked to 0.5 GW of solar manufacturing capacity, corresponding to one project. A total of four such projects have been put up for bidding. A company can bid for one or all four.
Interesting amendments
In an interesting amendment introduced in the new RfS, SECI has allowed using imported solar modules at the power plant and not necessarily the ones manufactured at the linked unit set up by the company. Earlier, this was mandatory.
Another addition in the tender is regarding manufacturing, wherein the companies can submit a bid for setting up manufacturing units for ingots and wafers as well as solar cells and modules.
The tender, however, has not included the long-awaited demand of the industry to include the existing solar manufacturing units.
After several extensions, the Central government, in January, decided to cancel the lone bid that came for setting up solar panel manufacturing along with a solar power plant.
The single bid came from Azure Power in tie-up with Waaree Energies. The government re-issued the tender in March and it was also extended again. The latest global tender closes in August 2019.
