The Indian challenging photovoltaic tender seems to exceed the initial capacity

• The repeatedly prolonged PV tender held by Solar Energy Corporation seems to get finally rewarded. The announced 7 gigawatts of solar project capacity are currently oversubscribed by 1 gigawatt.

At last, the lingering solar tender by Solar Energy has attracted three prospective developers, which has resulted in oversubscription for the project. 

The bidders include Adani Green Energy, Azure Power and Navyug Power. The first developer is bidding for 4 gigawatts and promises to create new manufacturing factories with 1 gigawatt of production capacity a year. The second and the third tenderers are applying for 2 gigawatts of solar capacity in exchange for 500 megawatts of new production facilities.

The objectionable auction started a year and a half ago. The initial offer was 10 gigawatts of project capacity in exchange for 5 gigawatts of manufacturing capacity. However, the proposed proportion didn’t attract any interested developers, so SECI had to decrease this to 3 gigawatts of production for 10 gigawatts of project capacity.

Finally, the tender draw attention of Azure. The developer’s offer was 600 production megawatts for 2 gigawatts of project capacity. The tender holder was ready to accept the proposal. However, the tenderer’s offered electricity tariff was declined by the government. 

India is targeted at reaching 100 gigawatts of solar capacity in two years and 40 per cent of electricity supply from green energy sources. Nearly 85 per cent of solar equipment deployed is imported, in spite of nearly 11 gigawatts of solar module and about 3 gigawatts of solar cell manufacturing capacities located in India. That is why development of local photovoltaic value chain is so vital for the country.