SECI to Tender for 1785 MW of Solar PV Projects in Rajasthan Soon

SECI intends to procure solar power for an aggregate capacity of 1785 MW on behalf of the Discoms of Rajasthan and will be issuing a tender soon.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has informed that it intends to procure solar power for an aggregate capacity of 1785 MW on behalf of the Discoms of Rajasthan. In line with which the nodal agency will soon be issuing a tender for the development of 1.785 GW solar projects in the state, for which it will sign a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with the successful bidders/ developers.

As per the initial notification, the projects will be set up in Rajasthan on Build Own Operate (B-O-O) basis.

The Request for Selection (RfS) document for the 1785 MW capacity in Rajasthan under Tranche – IV will be issued ‘shortly’ according to SECI. 

The tranche-IV of the tenders will follow up on a highly successful tranche-III which saw SECI receive (at the time) the lowest tariffs for utility-scale solar projects in the country. SECI’s auction for its 1070 MW solar tender for projects being set up in Rajasthan (Tranche-III) had received two bids (L1) at the new lowest of Rs 2 per kWh. 

The record low L1 bid was submitted by Saudi Arabian firm Al Jomaih Energy and Water Co and Sembcorp Energy India subsidiary Green Infra Wind Energy. Both submitted the L1 bid for 200 MW and 400 MW capacity respectively. According to industry reports, the L1 bid was closely followed by NTPC ltd which submitted the bid of Rs 2.01/kWh for 600 MW capacity. However, the firm will be awarded only 470 MW capacity in the tender i.e. the remainder of the 1070 MW capacity after the capacity for the L1 bids is allocated.

In total, SECI received 14 bids for a total of 4,350 MW project capacity, which meant that the tender was oversubscribed by 3,280 MW. Interestingly, eight of the fourteen bids submitted for the tender were lower than the previous record low solar tariff of Rs 2.36/kWh in the Indian solar segment, which was discovered in June in SECI’s auction for its 2 GW ISTS connected solar projects tender. SECI had issued the Tranche-III tender for the 1070 MW solar projects in July 2020.

However, a month later, in the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) auctions for 500 MW solar projects to be developed in Gujarat, the tariffs dropped to a new low of Rs 1.99/kWh.