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NHPC Issues 2 Solar Power Tenders For 100 MW And 500 Mw In Tamil Nadu
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tepping up the pace after its 100 MW floating solar tender early this week, NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) has issued two tenders, for a 100 MW and a 500 MW solar project. Both projects are to be located in Tamil Nadu. With these, the pace of solar development returns to Tamil Nadu, after a period of relative quiet. Both the tenders come with an O&M provision of 10 years, following the standard PSU rulebook. NHPC has set itself a target of almost 4 GW of solar projects by 2024 going by past announcements, and these projects seem very well to be a push to get close to those numbers. The company already has projects worth 2000 MW with ISTS connectivity under implementation,
after awarding them last year. It’s floating solar tender for Odisha was also announced recently. For these two Tamil Nadu solar tenders, the last date for submissions is October 11 (100 MW) and October 8 respectively for the 500 Mw option. As a profitable PSU, it will hope to get some strong bids for these tenders no doubt. While the minimum average turnover requirement for the both the tendered projects is Rs 700 crores. For the 500 Mw tender, bidding is allowed in multiples of 100 MW each. The ramp up of tenders from NHPC clearly indicates a new dominance of PSU’s when it comes to fresh capacity creation. This is something that was on the cards for
a while, as we had covered back in January this year. With NTPC doubling its own target to 2032, it should be interesting to see how the plans of the remaining PSU’s, be it Coal India, SJVN, NLC, GAIL and more, that have also committed to add solar capacity, pan out. The flurry of new tenders indicates a strong revival for the sector, after a poor 2019-20 and even 2020-21. 2021 is already promising close to 8 GW of actual capacity additions, and the momentum of the new tenders, as well as the projects stuck in implementation indicates we might well see a new capacity creation record next year. Of course, each year will have to deliver a fresh high for India to meet its 280 GW solar targets for 2030.
Renew Power Commissions 250 MW Solar project In Rajasthan
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eNew Power today announced the commissioning of 250 MW capacity of its Interstate Transmission System (ISTS) solar generation project, SECI-3. The project has a total generation capacity of 300 MW which was won by ReNew Power in tranche 3 of the competitive auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). ReNew expects the remaining 50 MW capacity to be commissioned by the end of this month. This solar project is in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan and has a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with SECI and will provide clean electricity to the state of Bihar at a rate of INR 2.55/kWh (~US$ 0.035). The project is also expected to provide direct employment to around 600 people, according to the firm. In this project, ReNew has installed monocrystalline modules with fixed tilt and string inverters which enhance the project efficiency. ReNew will also be using robotic module cleaning at this site to help conserve water in the desert state of Rajasthan. Speaking about the commissioning, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew
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Power, Sumant Sinha said, “With this commissioning, ReNew Power continues to contribute significantly to India’s growing renewable energy capacity in line with the country’s ambitious targets of achieving a capacity of 450 GW by 2030. This is the first project to be commissioned after ReNew started trading on NASDAQ (RNW) and is another step towards ReNew achieving close to 18 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2025. I am delighted that our teams were able to commission this project within the budget as well as within the stipulated time despite COVID related challenges.”
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As of August 31, 2021, ReNew Power has a total capacity of 10.2 GW out of which 5.8 GW is operational across wind, solar and hydro energy projects in India and the rest is under construction or in the pipeline. The latest commissioning from the firm adds to a string of projects going online this year, and further strengthens the odds of 2021 being the best year on record for fresh capacity creation. While industry estimated for 2021 have put a possible number between 8.5GW to 9 GW for this year, steps taken to clear obstacles by the MNRE seem to have borne fruit, and we might actually see the magic 10 GW number reached too.
