Solar auctions, tenders drop in November: Mercom

Solar tender and auction activity declined steeply in India during November, Mercom Capital Group said today.
The solar capacity tendered across the country during the month fell by 25 per cent to 300 MW compared to October and the amount of solar auctioned dropped by 98 per cent to just 5 MW, a Mercom Capital Group statement said.
"Hopefully, tender and auction activity has bottomed out. The GST issue is almost behind us and the government is asking DISCOMs to refrain from PPA (power purchase agreement) renegotiations, even though the anti-dumping case is still looming," said Raj Prabhu, the CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

The largest tender seen during the month was issued by Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) which re- tendered 200 MW of solar to be developed at the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka.
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was responsible for the only solar auction held in November when it auctioned a 5 MW grid-connected solar PV project under the National Solar Mission Defense viability gap funding (VGF) programme for the Ordinance Factory in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Giriraj Renewables Private Ltd emerged as the successful bidder by quoting a tariff of Rs 4.18 (USD 0.064)/kWh without VGF (viability gap funding).

According to Mercom's India Solar Project Tracker, cumulative solar installations in India surpassed 17 GW as of September 2017, with over 7 GW installed in the first nine months of 2017.

During August 2017, Mercom reported that the Ministry of Power issued the final guidelines for tariff-based competitive bidding process for solar projects.
It said that the guidelines address some of the challenges faced by large-scale project developers in India and aim to replicate the success of the REWA auction by including payment guarantees, longer construction timelines for large projects, and deemed generation benefits. Also included in the guidelines was a provision for an intermediary procurer and clarity on the change in law clause.

In the third quarter of 2017, a total of 1,456 MW of solar power was tendered and 1,232 MW of solar was auctioned. That total represented a marked reduction from the activity seen in the second quarter when 3,408 MW of solar projects were tendered and 2,505 MW projects were auctioned.