NHPC Hopes To Commission 1 GW Solar Power Projects in 2023 With Recent Contracts

India’s largest hydropower generation firm NHPC Ltd expects that three contracts recently awarded to Adani Infra, Tata Power Solar and Sri Sai would commission the 1 gigawatt solar power project by November 2023. Adani Infra, Tata Power Solar and a joint venture of Sri Sai had bagged the contract for producing 600 MW, 300 MW and 100 MW capacity respectively. The projects will come up in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.

A news report quoted NHPC chairman and managing director Abhay Kumar Singh as saying, “We have power sale agreements and power purchase agreements available with us. We had the tie-ups and awarded the contracts. The construction is underway. The solar plants will be maintained by the generators for 10 years.” The contracts had been awarded by the state-run company as part of the diversification drive for one of India’s largest solar power projects under Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSU) scheme mandating the use of domestically produced cells and modules.

India rolled out the scheme for state-run firms to build solar capacity with a viability gap funding component. The government plans to award large solar contracts to expedite its target of reaching 500 GW of non-fossil fuel power generation capacity by 2030, from an existing capacity of 153 GW.

This comes in the backdrop of the government imposing 40% basic customs duty (BCD) on solar modules and 25% on solar cells from April to discourage imports. In addition to the ₹4,500 crore production-linked incentive scheme for solar photovoltaic modules which was announced earlier, the budget allocated another ₹19,500 crore for manufacturing high-efficiency solar modules under the PLI scheme. The purpose is to help the Indian companies outgrow the foreign companies and reverse the foreign trade imbalance.

One of the largest tenders in India’s green energy space was awarded by NHPC through a request for selection process, for buying solar power at ₹2.45 per unit. It will sell the electricity to discoms, and earn 7 paise on every unit sold.