India’s state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has launched a tender for 700MW of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar PV projects, with the electricity to be supplied to a commercial and industrial (C&I) consumer in Odisha.
Under the request for selection (RfS), SECI is seeking developers for solar PV projects under the build-own-operate (BOO) model. Successful bidders will sign 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with SECI.
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The electricity will be sold to an export-oriented unit (EOU) of a C&I buying entity in Odisha. SECI will act as an intermediary nodal agency, procuring power from selected developers and selling it to the buying entity on a back-to-back basis. The identities of the buying entities will be disclosed at a later stage, according to the tender documents.
The projects must be located within special economic zones (SEZs) or areas designated as EOUs in India and supply power to the buying entity’s EOU in Odisha.
This arrangement is intended to enable the projects to qualify for an exemption from India’s Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) requirements. India’s ALMM system is designed to favour PV hardware produced by domestic Indian manufacturers.
Developers will be responsible for securing land, developing the projects and obtaining grid connectivity. They must also construct the transmission network from the project up to the interconnection or delivery point.
SECI will select projects through an e-bidding process followed by an e-reverse auction. Bidders can offer a minimum contracted capacity of 50MW and a maximum of 700MW.
A single project may be developed across multiple locations, with different delivery points, according to the tender.
Online bidding is open until 5 October and offline bidding until 7 October 2026.
The 700MW procurement adds to India’s efforts to facilitate renewable power procurement for C&I consumers, while the SEZ/EOU requirement provides a route for projects to operate under the applicable ALMM exemption framework.
Last month, SECI awarded the full 1GW capacity under its Round-the-Clock Thermal Mimic (RTC-TM) tender to seven bidders, at tariffs of INR 5.25/kWh to INR 5.26/kWh (US$0.055/kWh).
Issued in March 2026, the tender sought firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) matching the reliability profile of conventional thermal generation. Five bidders secured capacity at INR 5.25/kWh and two at INR 5.26/kWh.
