India to ‘enthuse’ solar development in Northeast states with 1GW tender

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
While Northeast States like Assam are famous for tea production, much of the region has been declared forestry and therefore land availability for solar could be a big challenge. Flickr: Akarsh Simha

The Northeastern states of India, which until now have been largely overlooked by the South Asian country's solar boom, will soon be the subject of a 1GW PV tender to be issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

While such states have been eligible for solar development within many pan-India tenders, various challenges have meant they were largely ignored by PV developers, while the states of higher irradiance with plenty of barren lands – such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in the West and Centre of the country – were favoured. Northeast states could, however, procure such solar power via the Interstate Transmission System (ISTS).

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

An official from the government told PV Tech that the new tender would include the Seven Sister States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, as well as the eighth state of Sikkim, which is nestled between Nepal and Bhutan.

The standalone, grid-connected projects can be set up anywhere in these states as per the land identified by the developers. Parameters such as ceiling tariffs will be announced once the Request for Selection Document (RfS) has been issued on 20 March.

The official said that land availability will be a huge challenge because vast portions of these states have been declared as forest land. The government of India has therefore seen that  PV development needs more focused facilitation and support in this region and the tender is an attempt to “enthuse” such development.

The projects come under the National Solar Mission Phase-II, Batch-IV.

Back in February 2018, SECI issued a tender for a 70MW solar project in Assam, while Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) awarded 85MW in June. Tata Power Solar also recently launched its solar rooftop solution in Guwahati, Assam.

Read Next

August 28, 2025
Indian solar manufacturing firm INA Solar has broken ground on its fourth 4.5GW cell production plant in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
August 26, 2025
Jakson Engineers is investing over INR80 billion (US$912.5 million) to set up a 6GW integrated solar module, cell, and wafer plant.
August 26, 2025
India installed 14.3GW of new utility-scale solar capacity in the first half (H1) of 2025, marking a 49% increase year-on-year.
Premium
August 22, 2025
Indian PV manufacturers are facing a double hit from US trade tariffs and anti-dumping measures on products sold in America. Shreeyashi Ojha reports on how these are impacting their business models.
August 21, 2025
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), through its renewable energy arm NTPC Green Energy, has commissioned 212.5MW of solar capacity at its 1.25GW Khavda-I project. 
August 19, 2025
Indian renewable energy company SAEL Industries has signed two 880MW power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Indian states of Gujarat and Punjab.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines