MNRE Outlines Calendar For 50 GW RE Tenders

In a measure of intent that is as strong as it can get, the MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) has published a full calendar for the financial year FY23-24, outlining the bidding targets for the 4 key central implementing agencies. These include SECI, NTPC, NHPC and SJVN.   Adding up to the announced target of 50 GW capacity annually for the next five years, the month wise plan is a significant first, rarely seen from any government firm or agency, let alone a central ministry. If executed well, these numbers will vault India to the no. 2 spot globally behind China in terms of renewable capacity, ahead of the US .

MNRE said that these annual bids of Inter-State Transmission connected renewable energy capacity will include setting up of wind power capacity of at least 10 GW per annum, besides Solar. Thus, if one goes by the calendar, Industry can look forward to a 2 GW tender from SECI for solar, Hybrid,  RTC etc, while MAY could bring a record 8.5 GW worth of tenders from SECI, NTPC, and SJVN.

The plan finalized by MNRE last week, is in accordance with Prime Minister’s announcement at COP26 in Glasgow of achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

As per MNRE India currently has a total renewable energy capacity of about 169 GW with about 82 GW at various stages of implementation and about 41 GW under tendering stage. This includes 64.38 GW Solar Power, 51.79 GW Hydro Power, 42.02 GW Wind Power and 10.77 GW Bio Power.

Considering the fact that RE projects take around 18-24 months for commissioning, the bid plan will add 250 GW of renewable energy and ensure 500 GW of installed capacity by 2030. The Ministry of Power is already working on upgrading and adding the transmission system capacity for evacuating 500 GW of electricity from non-fossil fuel.

RK Singh, MNRE Minister, said “The structured bidding trajectory will provide sufficient time to the RE developers to plan their finances, develop their business plans and manage the supply chain more efficiently. This is a golden opportunity of industry to invest in this sector.”

BS Bhalla, Secretary, MNRE, said that the bidding trajectory will also enable the power procurers, including the distribution companies, to manage their RE procurement plans effectively.

Quarterly Plan

MNRE’s quarterly plan of the bids for fiscal 2023-24, comprises of bids for at least 15 GW of renewable energy capacity in each of the first and second quarters of the financial year (April-June 2023 and July-September 2023 respectively), and at least 10 GW in each of the third and fourth quarters of the financial year (Oct-December 2023 and January-March 2024 respectively).

MNRE said that this capacity addition is over and above the renewables capacities that would come up under schemes like Rooftop solar and PM-KUSUM.

The targeted bid capacity for FY 2023-24 would be allocated among the four REIAs. The REIAs would be permitted to bring out the bids for solar, wind, solar-wind hybrid, RTC RE power, etc. – all with/without storage.

SECI and NTPC have been allocated with 15 GW each of capacities for bids and NTPC and NHPC will have 10 GW each.

Check out the MNRE notification with the annual calendar here.