Projects and Tenders

Coal India Invites Empanelment For Its Floating Solar Plans

In a tender notice on May 17, Coal India Limited has invited expressions of interest from relevant firms to get empaneled with it for its floating solar plans.

The Maharatna firm has set a target of 3 GW of solar plants, aligned to its broader goal to be a net zero energy emissions firm by 2024. Two categories have been created:

For Category (i) : (less than 100 MWp) Applicants are required to have successfully designed, supplied, erected /supervised erection, and commissioned / supervised commissioning of Solar PhotoVoltaic-based grid connected power plant(s) of cumulative installed capacity of 60 MWp or higher in the last five financial years including the financial year in which the Application has been submitted, out of which at least one plant should have been of 10 MWp or higher capacity installed at a single location. The reference plant of 10 MWp or higher capacity must have been in successful operation for at least six (6) months prior to the last date of submission of application for empanelment.

For Category (ii) : The Applicant should have successfully designed, supplied, erected /supervised erection, and commissioned / supervised commissioning of Solar PhotoVoltaic-based grid connected power plant(s) of cumulative installed capacity of 150 MWp or higher in the last five (5) financial years including the financial year in which the Application has been submitted, out of which at least one plant should have been of 50 MWp or higher capacity installed at a single location. The reference plant of 50 MWp or higher capacity must have been in successful operation for at least six (6) months prior to the last date of submission of application for empanelment.

Suzlon Wins 252 MW Project From CLP India

Suzlon Group, has secured an order for developing a 252-megawatt (MW) wind power project from CLP India.

The project is part of the bid won by CLP India in SECI’s VIII tranche of wind projects, some of which have been delayed significantly due to land availability issues in Gujarat. This particular project will be based at Sidhpur in Gujarat. CLP India had won the bid with a price of Rs 2.83 per unit. The project is the largest renewable project at a single site for CLP India.

Suzlon will be involved in the supply, foundation, erection, and commissioning of the project and will also provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services after commissioning.

Suzlon will provide and install 120 S120-140m HLT wind turbines with a nominal capacity of 2.1 MW each. With a completion date of 2022, work will need to pick up fast.

The S120-140m wind turbines feature Dual Feed Induction Generator (DFIG) technology that integrates wind turbines into the utility grid to meet grid requirements. These are also designed to perform at higher altitudes, and are capable of working at low-wind sites at viable levels.

CLP India is owned by CLP Group, one of Asia’s largest investor-owned energy companies, and Caisse de dépôt et location du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group. Since its founding in 2002, it has grown to become one of the largest foreign investors in the Indian energy sector. Its diversified portfolio comprises more than 3,000 MW of electricity generating capacity, including wind and solar power projects in seven states, as well as transmission assets.

For Suzlon, this is the first major project announcement after its last round of debt restructuring, making it a critical step towards complete rehabilitation financially.

SJVN Wins GUVNL’s 100 MW Solar Auction Again at Rs 2.64/kWh

SJVN Limited has announced that it has once again emerged as the winner in the auctions conducted by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) for 100 MW solar projects to be developed in the Raghanesda Solar Park. SJVN won the project capacity at a tariff of Rs 2.64/ kWh.

In September 2020, SJVN had emerged victorious in the auctions conducted for the same project at a higher tariff of Rs 2.73 per unit.

In the auction conducted for the 700 MW projects in August 2020, GUVNL had awarded the capacity to five bidders. With Tata Power and Vena Energy submitting the winning bids (Lowest Bids – L1) for 100 MW capacity each of Rs 2.78/kWh. Followed by ReNew Power which secured 200 MW project capacity with its bid of Rs 2.79/kWh. SJVN Limited was also involved in the tender process and came in with the L3 bid of Rs 2.80/kWh and secured 100 MW capacity while TEQ Power secured the remaining 200 MW capacity with its bid of Rs 2.81/kWh.

In December 2020, the state had set a new benchmark when the latest round of auctions conducted by GUVNL, for 500 MW worth of solar projects in the state, set a new record for the lowest solar tariff in India. With L1 tariffs reaching Rs 1.99/kWh, the auction beat the recently set record of Rs 2/kWh which was set in November.

Tata Power Solar Wins 210 MWp Solar Projects From NTPC

Tata Power Solar, India’s largest integrated solar company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, has received “Letter of Award” (LoA) to build 210 MWp of Solar PV projects for NTPC. The total order value of the projects is approximately Rs 686 crore. The commissioning date has been set for November, 2022.

With this addition, the order pipeline of Tata Power Solar’s EPC book stands at approximately 2.8 GW with an approximate value of Rs 13,000 crore, thereby cementing its position as India’s leading Solar EPC player. The firm has had regular success winning NTPC contracts, on the back of its scale and experience.

The scope of work includes land, transmission, engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of the solar projects. The NTPC project site is located in Gujarat.

Speaking on the achievement, Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “We are pleased to announce the new win of this large solar EPC contract from NTPC. Tata Power Solar is the leader in producing solar energy across the country and this further validates Tata Power Solar’s excellent execution skills in solar projects.”

Tata Power Solar has been and early entrant in the solar market, and is the leading rooftop EPC player too.

The firm has a solid track record of executing large projects such as the 250 MW Ayana at Ananthapur, 50 MW Kasargod at Kerala, 56 MW Greenko, 30 MWp Solar Power Plant in Lapanga, Odisha and 105 MWp of Floating solar at Kayamkulam.

The firm has built up the largest rooftop solar presence in the country among EPC’s, and is probably one of the few truly national players, in a market dominated by regional players. With its own cell and module manufacturing facilities in place, Tata Power Solar has also announced expansion plans in manufacturing. That should provide it with greater flexibility in sourcing as well as control, at a time when the market has been more volatile than usual.

With a strong presence across generation, distribution, manufacturing and EPC, the firm has been one of the biggest success stories from the legacy power firms in the country. The firm targets 80 percent clean energy capacity by 2030. As a generator, it has set itself a target of 2 GW of solar each year, to take its portfolio size to 15 GW by 2025, and 25 GW by 2030. In 2021, the firm has also initiated its participation in the Water Disclosure Campaign of CDP, one of the few power firms to do so from India.

Adani Wind Commissions 150 MW Project Months Ahead of Schedule

Adani Wind Energy Kutchh Three Limited (AWEKTL), a subsidiary of Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), has announced the commissioning of a 150 MW Wind Power Project located in Kutchh, Gujarat, 9 months ahead of its Schedule. This is the 6th project commissioned before schedule by the company over the past 12 months. Wind Energy projects have been a particularly quick execution from the firm. That will easily be a record of sorts, which will stand for some tie, considering the challenging situation faced by the sector in the past 15 months due to the covid pandemic and related disruptions. The project has a 25 years Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) at Rs. 2.82/kwh. It seems to have been part of its project win from SECI’s Tranche VI ISTS connected Wind Energy win. With this commissioning, AGEL’s total operational renewable capacity moves to 5,070 MW. The firm has a stated ambition to get to 25 GW capacity by 2025, a number it looks set to achieve well before its target date, thanks to a slew of recent acquisitions too. AGEL has total renewable capacity of 24,294 MW(1&2) (including asset under acquisition & projects where AGEL has emerged as L1 bidder). With this 150 MW, AGEL has added total operational renewable capacity of 2,525 MW (including 1,750 MW of operational assets under acquisition) during the challenging COVID-19 outbreak. In terms of wind energy, AGEL has an operational wind generation capacity of 647 MW now. Like all its other assets, operations and maintainance (O&M) for the newly commissioned plant will be managed in house Energy Network Operation Centre (ENOC) platform that gives AGEL complete centralized visibility and an ability to manage its renewables assets on pan India basis. AGEL is one of the large developers in India that have so far gone with its own O&M on renewable assets.

Ciel & Terre Installs India’s Largest Floating Solar Plant in Tamil Nadu

Ciel & Terre India, a subsidiary of Ciel & Terre International, a global leader in floating solar, has successfully completed the plant engineering, float supply, supervision of the 14.7 MWp floating solar power plant at Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) Limited, in its water storage pond in Thoothukudi in the state of Tamil Nadu. Hydrelio patent Equato floats, which were locally manufactured under the “Make in India” campaign were used to mount 37,632 photovoltaic panels with 390 Wp capacity, over an area of 15.6 hectares. This plant will produce competitive electricity and avoid more than 18686 tons of CO2 emissions – the company claims.

C&T India Managing Director, Deepak Ushadevi said “a captive project like this will benefit the industry from a competitive price compared to the grid and we can replicate the same model on other industrial reservoirs such as steel, thermal, fertilisers, cement, chemical, etc. Since we have high valued investors to finance similar projects, industries should utilise such benefits.”

In 2019, the firm had commissioned its first pilot 452 kWp project at CIAL Cochin, followed by the second project 5.4 MWp at Sagardighi thermal power plant, West Bengal last year being the biggest gridconnected floating plant in India, presently. Currently, C&T India is executing the mega floating project to the size of 75 MWp in South India and is expected to commission by October 2021, the Hydrelio floats are being produced from a 150 MWp/year production capacity factory by the firm in Kerala.

ReNew Power Goes with Gujarat For Solar Component Manufacturing Plant

Leading renewable energy firm ReNew Power has announced that it will be going to Gujarat for the development of a solar cell and module manufacturing plant. The manufacturing plans had been announced by ReNew Power last year, and it has picked the Dholera Special Industrial Region (DSIR), about 100 km away from Ahmedabad. Gujarat, as a frontline state for renewable energy in India, has also got some of ReNew’s biggest existing and future projects. Plus it offers the advantage of multiple ports for easy access to imports and exports.To that extent, expect the state to win quite a few of the fresh manufacturing that is being planned, along with Rajasthan possibly.

According to ReNew, the greenfield plant will produce 2 GW of solar cells and modules annually using state-of-the-art monocrystalline PERC (Passivated Emitter & Rear Contact) and large wafer technology. The new project has been given 100 acres of land by the Gujarat government, assuring adequate availability of land for future capacity expansion.

The manufacturing of solar cells and modules and plant operations are expected to begin from the fiscal year 2023 (FY23). The manufacturing capacity being set up will incorporate ReNew Power’s sustainability initiatives and ensure decarbonization of manufacturing processes and supply chain to create a ‘Green Factory’ of the future, as per the company’s claims. The manufacturing plant is expected to generate 2500 jobs in the state. The plant will probably qualify for the PLI scheme for solar manufacturing easily.

CEO of ReNew Power, Mr. Sumant Sinha said, “ReNew plans to manufacture both solar cells and modules in the Dholera manufacturing facility with the goal of creating a globally competitive manufacturing unit.”

Tata Motors & Tata Power Inaugurate India’s Largest Solar Carport in Pune

Tata Motors and Tata Power today jointly inaugurated India’s largest gridsynchronized, behind-the-meter solar carport at the Tata Motors car plant in Chikhali, Pune. The 6.2 MWp solar carport deployed by Tata Power will generate 86.4 lakh kWh of electricity per year and is estimated to reduce 7,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and 1.6 lakh tons over its lifecycle. Spanning over 30,000 square meters, this carport will not only generate green power, but will also provide covered parking for finished cars in the plant. Envisioned as part of its net zero carbon goal for 2039, Tata Motors had entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Tata Power on August 31, 2020, and the project was finished within 9.5 months. Mr. Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “We have always been conscious of the need to conserve energy and are committed towards achieving 100% renewable energy source for all our operations. Our partnership with Tata Power to deploy India’s largest solar carport at our car plant in Pune is a step in that direction.” “As One Tata initiative, we are proud to partner with Tata Motors and inaugurate India’s largest solar carport. Our partnership is a testament to our collective efforts to lower the carbon footprint and provide innovative and future-focused green energy solutions. We will continue to explore new ways to harness clean resources and offer them to our partners and customers.” Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said. In FY20, Tata Motors generated 88.71 million kWh of renewable electricity which is over 21% of its total power consumption (up from 16% in FY19). This helped prevent the equivalent of 72,739 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The company further intends to source renewable energy more rigorously to meet its aspiration of sourcing 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. Tata Power has successfully executing multiple large solar solutions in the past, including the world’s largest rooftop (16MW) at a single location at Radhasoami Satsang Beas (RSSB), Amritsar; 2.67MW at Cochin International Airport; world’s largest solar powered cricket stadiumCricket Club of India (CCI) with 820.8 kWp capacity; unique installation of solar vertical farm (120kW) at Dell Technologies at Bangalore and 1.4MW floating solar at Tata Chemicals, Nellore. In addition, Tata Power is carrying out an extensive pan-India residential rooftop program to make people aware on the benefits of savings through solar energy.

Lightsource bp Acquires Solar Projects Totalling 156 MWp in Italy

Lightsource bp in Italy continues to boost its utility scale solar portfolio by acquiring three projects from Horizon Firm, a trusted developer specialized in solar, totalling 156MWp across the country. Two of the projects are based in Sicily, in a low solar plant massification density area, in the province of Agrigento: the Canicattì project (40.9 MWp) and the Torre di Mastro project (58.2 MWp). The third project, Manfredonia (57.4 MWp), based in Apulia, will be developed as an Agri-PV with the aim of virtuously integrating agriculture and renewable energy. These projects cast light upon the two regions’ strategic roles for the development of RES in line with the national objectives of energy production and decarbonisation. Horizon Firm’s expertise has been instrumental in identifying and selecting solar project sites that can be developed responsibly to protect local ecosystems and continue agricultural practices. Lightsource bp has also entered into an exclusivity agreement with Horizon Firm to acquire an additional 130MWp of solar projects and aims to complete this transaction in the next few months. Also, for these projects, the companies will explore the potential benefits of adding an energy storage system. As well as maximising clean energy production this could also help support the island’s electricity grid infrastructure.

This latest partnership with Horizon Firm brings Lightsource bp’s Italian solar development pipeline to over 1.5GWp, providing a significant contribution to the country’s longterm commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. These three projects are expected to reach ready-to-build status in 2022.

UPNEDA Moves To Initiate 106 MW Solar Plants Under PM KUSUM

The Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) has issued a tender inviting bids for 106 MW of solar plants under the PM KUSUM scheme. The scheme, while primarily focused on solar pumps initially, was expanded later to include solar plants too. The tender invites bids for plant sizes ranging from 0.5 MW /1 MW/ 1.5 MW / 2 MW (AC) capacity on Barren/ uncultivable or agriculture land, Pasturelands and Marshlands of farmers falling within a radius of 5 KM from selected 33/11 KV substations.

The tariff based competitive bidding process requires bidders to participate in the Request for Selection (RfS) for installation of Grid Connected Solar Photovoltaic Power Projects on BuildOwn- operate (B-O-O) basis under the scheme. With 24 substations and their neighbouring areas on offer, the tender expressly forbids a single bidder for bidding beyond 2 MW. The last date for submitting bids is June 15, with an EMD requirement of Rs 5000 per MW plus GST. (Rs 5900 per MW). A firm land lease agreement with a farmer or group of farmers /farmer bodies is a prerequisite, with the state discom taking no responsibility for arranging land or enforcing such agreement.

The UPNEDA move comes at an interesting time, with the state still under grave threat of seeing a massive impact from the second wave of corona pandemic. To that extent, one is not really certain to that extent key project deadlines will be met, and with bidding effectively limited to smaller firms, one wonders about their ability to lobby effectively in case of issues faced.

Massachusetts Invites Bids for 1600 MW Offshore Wind Projects

Massachusetts electric utility companies have opened their third offshore wind solicitation, releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for up to 1,600 MW of offshore wind power, twice the capacity they contracted in the previous rounds.

The Baker administration announced the RFP on Friday, for which confidential bids are due by September 16 and public proposal submission deadline is September 23. The winning bid(s) will be decided by December 17 and the contracts will be filed with the Department of Public Utilities by April 27, 2022. The 140-page document explains that local distribution companies will seek to procure at least 400 MW and up to 1,600 MW of projects. The individual proposals can range from 200 MW to 1,600 MW and the bidding price should not exceed USD 77.76 per MWh, which must be designed to recover all costs associated with the proposal, including but not limited to the cost of Offshore wind energy generation, cost of offshore delivery facilities, cost of network upgrades, and, if applicable, energy storage systems. The evaluation team will consider proposals of at least 200 megawatts, and there is no preferred bid size.

In late March, governor Charlie Baker signed a climate change legislation allowing the state to acquire an additional 2,400 MW of offshore wind by 2027, causing the required authorisation by the said year to rise to 4,000 MW. As part of the legislation, Massachusetts committed to attain netzero emissions by 2050. The recent offshore solicitations are part of efforts to achieve this goal, including the Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind proposals, with a combined capacity of around 1,600 MW, which were approved in the previous two rounds.

GEDA Tenders For EV’s

The Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) has invited EOI (Expression of Interest) for Authorization of Manufacturers for marketing & distribution of battery-operated, low Speed & high-speed Two and ThreeWheelers with Lithium-Ion battery, under Gujarat’s GEDA BOV scheme.

GEDA has invited separate EOIs for battery-operated 11000 two-wheelers and 5,417 three-wheelers (E-rickshaw) under the subsidy for the year 2021-2022 from interested reputed manufacturers only. Also, the manufacturers registered during 2020-21 can submit their bids for their new models only. The last date for interested manufacturers to submit their EOIs is 21 June 2021, and the offer opening will happen on the same day at the GEDA office. Manufacturers of low and high-speed, batteryoperated, two-wheelers with li-ion battery have to pay an Ernest Money Deposit (EMD) of Rs. 7,50,000 while the manufacturers of batteryoperated E-rickshaws with li-ion battery, have to pay an EMD of Rs. 15,00,000. However, both of them have to pay a nonrefundable tender processing fee of RS. 10,000.

The work should be completed within the completion period i.e. 31 March 2022, and no work assigned to the manufacturer shall be carried forward to the next financial year. The Manufacturer needs to comply with all rules, regulations, laws, and bylaws enforced by local and State Govt. and also the organization on whose premises the work has to be done. Back in January 2020, in its effort to promote electric vehicle adoption in the state, GEDA implemented a program for the distribution of batteryoperated vehicles (BOVs) especially two-wheelers and E-rickshaws with a subsidy of RS. 10,000 and 40,000, respectively.

GEDA has assigned a criteria of ‘reputation’ in the market too, with the threat of summarily dismissing from contention manufacturers who donot have a solid reputation. While that might be based on fly by night importers of chinese made equipment, it risks being misused to dismiss newer start ups in the sector too.