Maharashtra Races ahead in 2019 with Impressive Response to 1GW Tender

Maharashtra was also in the news late last year for its tender of 1400 MW across 30 circles in the state, besides a 1 GW tender for providing solar power purely for a dedicated agricultural grid.

Maharashtra’s 1 GW solar tender, which saw the state extend the final submission deadline to Jan 22 (today) from Jan 3 earlier, besides a revision in the ceiling price to Rs 2.90 from Rs 2.80, has seen an impressive response.

Maharashtra warms up for Solar again

It was almost as if developers wanted to reward the government for extending the date and price. At the time of filing, total demand had come in at 1900 MW, almost twice the tendered figure, with Adani Power and Avaada power alone putting in bids for 500 MW each. Besides them, other firms that have made bids include ACME for 300 MW, Renew Power for 300 MW, Orange Renewables for 100 MW, and Aqua Pumps for 50 MW.

Maharashtra was also in the news late last year for its tender of 1400 MW across 30 circles in the state, besides a 1 GW tender for providing solar power purely for a dedicated agricultural grid.

Floating solar has also caught the fancy of state authorities, with a 10MW option being floated for the Upper Vaitarna lake, and and even bigger 1 GW floating power pitch for Ujjani Dam. All in all, the state, which seemed to have falled behind its southern neighbours through most of 2016-17, has come back into the reckoning with a bang, and 2019 promises to see it lead in overall renewable capacity bidding as well as comissioning.

For the sector as a while, Maharashtra’s resurgence also augurs well, as the state with its well developed industrial infrastructure can show the way on optimum utilisation of power generated from renewables. It also joins back at a time when the pace of work seemed to be slowing down, thus providing a renewed fillip to the industry.