Financial bids for 750 MW solar projects to open tomorrow

Financial bids for 750 MW capacity under the second phase of the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) will be opened tomorrow.
The opening of financial bids also come at a time when the United States has dragged India to the WTO alleging that the domestic sourcing norms for the JNNSM Phase-II are discriminating against American companies.
As many as 63 companies are eligible to make financial bids under the second phase after they cleared the techno- commercial evaluation stage.
Indicating strong interest, bids for 2,170 MW solar capacity were received as against the 750 MW capacity on offer under the second phase.

"The financial bids will be opened on February 21," Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary at MNRE, said today.
Solar Energy Corporation of India, under the MNRE, is the nodal agency for the second phase of JNNSM.

The techno-commercial evaluation of bids were done on January 20 after which 63 companies, including Azure Power, Tata Power Renewable Energy and Neyveli Lignite Corp, were cleared for the next bidding stage.
Earlier this month, the US challenged the domestic content requirement of India's solar mission, which requires solar power developers to use Indian-made equipment. It alleged that the requirement was discriminatory and against international norms, including World Trade Organisation (WTO) laws, and affects US solar panel manufacturers.

When asked about it, Kapoor said: "We have said that whatever we have done it is government procurement and allowed as per rules".
For the second phase, the government has said that half of the total 750 MW capacity should utilise only domestic content.
"Our manufacturing sector is also there. They are suffering. They are not able to export and their factories are almost closed...," he said.