The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) has issued a tender for the development of 150 MW (50 MW x 3 blocks) of grid connected solar projects at Pavagada Solar Park, located in Tumkur district of Karnataka.

The project will be developed under build own operate basis and the generated power will be procured by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited for a period of 25 years. The maximum tariff payable to the project developer has been fixed at ₹2.93 (~$0.0426).

The projects will be developed on a pre-identified land parcel inside the Pavagada Solar Park and will be connected to Karnataka Solar Power Development Corporation Ltd (KSPDCL) substations.

The successful bidders will get 12 months for the commissioning of project. The date of opening the price bid will be notified later.

The development of Karnataka’s Pavagada Solar Park is no small feat. The park covers 13,000 acres and is expected to have total capacity of 2 GW when it is complete. To facilitate development, the park has been divided into eight blocks of 250 MW each that will have dedicated high voltage supply lines, pooling stations, and a pooling substation for evacuation. The Pavagada Solar Park was conceptualized in February 2015 and park development began in January 2016.

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

In April 2018, KREDL retendered 650 MW of grid-connected solar projects to be developed at the Pavagada Solar Park. KREDL then  awarded 250 MW of solar projects each to Fortum Corporation and Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL). The 150 MW that remained to be awarded has been tendered by KREDL now.

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

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