Blogs
Bidding stays aggressive in solar auctions
24 May 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
NTPC, SECI and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) completed auctions for their 750 MW, 200 MW and 1,000 MW tenders respectively in last two weeks. The NTPC and SECI projects would be located in Anantapur solar park, Andhra Pradesh and Pavagada solar park, Karnataka respectively. There is no solar park availability for the MSEDCL tender. Capacity has been won...
Wind-solar hybrid policy has little substance
21 May 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Wind-solar hybrid policy has little substance MNRE released the final version of National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy last week. The...
ReNew breaks away from the competition
14 May 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
India’s largest RE developer, ReNew Power, recently completed acquisition of Ostro Energy, a wind and solar project developer with a total portfolio of 1,108 MW. The acquisition, the largest in the sector so...
ISTS tenders face long delays
07 May 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), India’s chief power sector regulator, recently issued a draft procedure for applying for connectivity to the inter-state transmission system (ISTS). The draft procedure comes in the wake of last year’s
India launches its first offshore wind project
30 April 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), an autonomous technical institution set up by MNRE, has invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) for India’s first offshore wind project. The 1,000 MW project is proposed to be located...
Gujarat tender cancellation is ill advised
23 April 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Gujarat government has cancelled the 500-MW state tender, for which an auction was held just four weeks ago. Capacity was won in this tender by Kalthia Engineering (50 MW), Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (150 MW), Acme (100 MW) and Azure Power (200 MW). Reason for cancellation has been cited as winning tariffs, between INR 2.98 – 3.06/kWh, being “on the higher side”. In the same...
DC overloading gains increasing acceptance in India
19 April 2018 | Mudit Jain
A solar power plant rarely produces nameplate capacity power as solar modules operate at their maximum efficiency only during limited peak hours. It has therefore become routine industry practice to over-size DC module capacity, a concept commonly known as DC overloading. It allows solar plants to increase generation during non-peak hours and optimizes overall performance. In 2017, 45% of the...
SECI draws strong response to its 2000 MW wind auction
19 April 2018 | Shipra Arora
SECI conducted another e-auction for 2,000 MW of wind power projects on 6 April 2018. Winning bids were INR 2.51 – 2.52/kWh, just marginally higher than the tariffs discovered in the previous 2,000 MW SECI auction (2.44 – 2.45) held in February 2018. Winning bidders include an even spread of international and Indian names. International winners include Continuum (250 MW), Sprng (300 MW), BLP...
National Electricity Plan of limited use
18 April 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
About two weeks ago, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a statutory agency constituted under the Ministry of Power, released final National Electricity Plan for the five-year period beginning April 2017. The Plan is an important document – it should provide a roadmap for...
MNRE allows pass-through of duty risk
10 April 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Last week, MNRE issued a clarification to its guidelines for competitive bidding of solar PV projects. The clarification allows inclusion of changes in duties and other cesses in Change in Law provisions in power purchase agreements. It effectively means that risk of any new duties or changes in duties including safeguard and/or anti-dumping duties arising after the “last date of bid...
Gujarat auction gets a tepid result
02 April 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Gujarat conducted e-auction for a 500 MW utility scale PV solar tender last week. Capacity has been won by four developers at tariffs between INR 2.98 – 3.06/ kWh – Kalthia Engineering (50 MW, INR 2.98), Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSEC) (150 MW, INR 3.00), Acme (100 MW, INR 3.06) and Azure (200 MW, INR 3.06). Losing bidders include Hero, Adani, Shapoorji Pallonji, Mahindra,...
Uttar Pradesh shows open access promise
29 March 2018 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Uttar Pradesh (UP) has recently amended the Captive and Renewable Energy Regulations 2014 to provide 50% exemptions from transmission and wheeling charges for intra-state open access sale of solar power. The state agencies...
