Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL), the nodal agency for implementing renewable policies in Karnataka, has awarded 250 MW of solar projects each to Fortum Corporation and Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL) which are to be developed in Pavagada solar park, located in state’s Tumkur district.

This is part of the 650 MW of solar projects for Pavagada solar park which were retendered by KREDL in April 2018.

In January 2018, KREDL had tendered 1,200 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects to be developed at Pavagada. However, the agency was able to auction only  550 MW of the tendered capacity due to poor response from bidders amid various ongoing uncertainties in the solar sector.

Later, KREDL amended the bidding guidelines for these solar projects. It extended the project commissioning timeframe from 10 months to 12 months and the maximum time-period allowed for achieving the project commissioning along with encashment of performance security and payment of liquidated damages from 14 months to 16 months.

A KREDL official confirmed the news saying, “Tariff of ₹2.85 (~$0.042)/kWh was quoted by Fortum and Tata Power. Letter of Award (LOA) was issued on June 28, 2018. PPAs will be signed within one month from the date of LOA.”

“For the remaining 150 MW capacity, the decision will be taken by the government,” he added.

Earlier, the lowest (L1) tariff of ₹2.91 (~$0.044)/kWh was quoted in the auction to develop 550 MW of grid-connected solar projects conducted by KREDL in March 2018.

Mercom reported that in the last auction for Pavagada solar park in March 2018, the winners were ReNew Power, which won the bid to develop 300 MW, Avaada Power which won 150 MW, and Azure Power which won the capacity of 100 MW.

According to Mercom India Solar Project Tracker, Fortum has 185 MW of large-scale solar projects in operations while Tata Power has ~1.35 GW solar installed capacity.

According to Mercom India Solar Project Tracker, Karnataka is the leading state with installed large-scale solar capacity of over 5.1 GW and has a development pipeline of ~1.6 GW.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer