Tata Power Solar Systems Limited (Tata Power Solar), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, has received the Letter of Award (LoA) to build 300 MW of solar projects for  National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at an inclusive rate of ₹17.3 billion (~$226 million).

The capacity was tendered under the Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU)-II program.
The commercial operation date (CoD) for this grid-connected solar project has been set for September 2021, the company statement added.

“With this order, the order book of Tata Power Solar stands at approximately ₹85.4 billion (~$1.1 billion), including external and internal orders,” said the company release.

Ashish Khanna, the managing director of Tata Power Solar and President, Tata Power (Renewables), said, “This being a domestic content requirement (DCR) project, we will be building the project with our own cells and modules.” In India, DCR category projects were introduced to provide a guaranteed market for local solar component manufacturers.

In January 2020, Mercom reported that NTPC concluded the auction process for its 1,000 MW of solar projects under the Develop Build Demonstrate (DBDT) program. Out of the 1,000 MW capacity, only 560 MW was auctioned. The 1,000 MW solar tender had been undersubscribed, receiving bids for only 700 MW. Capacities were awarded to Tata Power Solar (300 MW), Jakson Limited (110 MW), and Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) (150 MW).

Tata Power Solar was the lowest bidder with an EPC quote of ₹19.2 million (~$271,089). Second, in the list of winners was Jakson with an EPC quote of ₹19.96 million (~$281,820) to develop a capacity of 110 MW. L&T had quoted the price of ₹19.98 million (~$282,102) for 300 MW but was allotted capacity of 150 MW in line with the bucket filling method followed in the auction.

In June 2019, NTPC had issued a tender inviting government entities to procure power from 1 GW of solar projects. The projects were tendered under the DCR category of the CPSU program, phase II. Then in July 2019, NTPC extended the bid submission deadline from July 15, 2019, to July 25, 2019.

The CPSU program was proposed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under which the government producers will get four years: 2019-2020 to 2022-23, to set up 12,000 MW of solar power projects across the country. Under the program, the usage charges should not exceed ₹3.50 (~$0.050)/kWh and will be exclusive of any other third-party charge such as wheeling, transmission charges, and losses.

Anjana is a news editor at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, she held roles of senior editor, district correspondent, and sub-editor for The Times of India, Biospectrum and The Sunday Guardian. Before that, she worked at the Deccan Herald and the Asianlite as chief sub-editor and news editor. She has also contributed to The Quint, Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express, Reader’s Digest (UK edition), IndiaSe (Singapore-based magazine) and Asiaville. Anjana holds a Master’s degree in Geography from North Bengal University, and a diploma in mass communication and journalism from Guru Ghasidas University, Bhopal.