Four Winners in SECI’s Latest 1200 MW Solar Tender

SECI has concluded the auction for its 1200 MW solar tender, awarding the full tendered capacity to the four successful bidders.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has recently concluded the auction for its 1200 MW solar tender, awarding the full tendered capacity to the four successful bidders. With all winning bids coming in way lower than the ceiling tariff that was set in the tender at Rs 2.78/kWh.

The biggest winner in the auction was SoftBank-backed SB Energy which won 600 MW capacity at the winning L1 bid of Rs 2.50/kWh. Eden Renewables and AMP Energy also matched the L1 tariff of Rs 2.50/kWh to be awarded 300 MW and 100 MW capacities respectively. ReNew Power after quoting Rs 2.51/kWh for developing 600 MW of solar projects was awarded the remainder of the 200 MW capacity of the tender.

SECI had issued the detailed Request for Selection document for the tender in January, for the selection of developers to set up the 1200 MW ISTS-connected solar PV power projects in the country under tariff-based competitive bidding. As per the RfS document, besides developing and operating the power projects under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis, the successful developers were also responsible for the land, connectivity and long term open access.

More recently, we had reported that SECI had received 9 prospective bids against the 1200 MW tender. With bid capacities exceeding 3500 MW. The nine firms that had submitted bids were ReNew Power, Softbank, Avaada, O2 Power, Brookefield, Eden, Tata, Ayana, and IB Solar, with total proposals submitted for 3.5 GW. ReNew Power and Softbank-backed SB Energy submitted the biggest bids at 600 MW each, behind them Avaada submitted a lone bid for 500 MW. The remaining six bidders each submitted bids for 300 MW capacity each.

Prior to that, SECI had made amendments to the power purchase and sale agreement for this solar tender, adding another point to the existing ‘change in law’ clause. According to the amended clause, in case of a change in the law on account of anti-dumping duty or safeguard duty or customs duty on the solar modules, the project developers will be entitled to either an increase or decrease in the tariff.