The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a request for selection (RfS) for the setting up of 250 MW (50 MWx5) of grid connected solar PV power projects in Dondaicha Solar Park (Phase – I), located in Dondaicha of Dhule district.

The selection of solar power developers (SPDs) will be carried out through e-bidding followed by e-reverse auction process.

SECI has fixed the maximum tariff payable to the project developer at ₹2.93 (~$ 0.042)/ kWh. It will enter into power purchase agreement (PPA) with successful bidders for a period of 25 years. Bidders will have to submit a single tariff for all the projects they apply for.

A bidder can submit a single bid for the entire 250 MW or part of the capacity in multiples of 50 MW. The project developer will have to declare the annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) of the project at the time of submission of response to RfS and the declared annual CUF can not be less than 17 percent.

Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) of ₹1 million (~$1,426.55)/ MW per project in the form of bank guarantee needs to be submitted by the bidder along with the bid. Selected bidders will have to submit performance guarantee for a value of ₹2 million (~$2,853.10)/ MW within 30 days of issuance of Letter of Award (LoA) or before signing of PPA, whichever is earlier.

The deadline for commissioning of the project is 12 months and part commissioning of the project is not allowed.

Before this, SECI had tendered 750 MW of grid-connected solar projects to be developed on standalone basis across Rajasthan.

Recently, SECI also issued a tender for the development of 160 MW of solar-wind hybrid power project with battery energy storage system (BESS) at Ramagiri, located in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Maharashtra has installed large-scale solar capacity of 1.3 GW to date and also has a project pipeline of 1.4 GW.

Image credit: Azure Power

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