Although Tamil Nadu’s latest 1.5GW solar tender has seen significant oversubscription, with 3,774.5MW of submissions, most of the key solar players in India have not participated.
Jasmeet Khurana, associate director, consulting, at Bridge to India, told PV Tech: “Even though the bid is oversubscribed, participation is largely from local players.”
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A significant chunk of the technical bidding – in one case for the whole 1.5GW capacity available – came from a single central government-owned company, NLC, which has been looking to set up a project in Tamil Nadu for some time now, added Khurana.
Only a few of the typical big players seen regularly bidding across the rest of India’s PV tendering programme of late, actually showed interest in Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation’s (TANGEDCO) latest tender. These included Rays Power, Sharpoorji Pallonji, Renew Solar Energy, Avada power, and FRV.
Khurana said: “Offtake bankability issues, delays in payment, a poor track record in running a smooth allocation process and grid curtailment risk have marred solar tenders in the state. You can see that most of the prominent developers have decided to stay away.
“The state has immense potential for exploiting solar power but it is being squandered away by poor planning and implementation of its solar program. Tamil Nadu should focus on procuring solar power through NTPC or SECI. This will allow the state to procure power at a lower tariff and give developers a comfort in terms of offtake bankability.”
Solar tenders with SECI were recently brought under the same payment guarantees of India's most largest and most bankable utility NTPC.
The list of technical bids for the 1.5GW is as follows:
| Bidder | Capacity (MW) |
|---|---|
| Dev International | 1 |
| Talettutayi Solar Projects Two | 50 |
| C.R. Garmentso | 2.5 |
| Giri Exports | 2.5 |
| Sukhbir Agro Energy | 100 |
| Sai Jothi Infrastructure | 54 |
| Clean Solar Power | 104 |
| Top Light | 10 |
| NLC | 1,500 |
| MAG & Company | 2.5 |
| Rays Power | 100 |
| Indira Industries | 5 |
| Indira Damper Industries | 5 |
| Sharpoorji Pallonji | 50 |
| Dynamize Solar | 2 |
| Rutherford Solar Farms | 100 |
| Leap Green Energy | 250 |
| VSR Solar Power | 50 |
| Top Light Renewable Energy | 5 |
| Narbheram Vishram | 100 |
| Raasi Green Earth Energy | 100 |
| VSM Weaves India | 5 |
| RB Wovens | 5 |
| Balavimodhan | 5 |
| FRV | 100 |
| G.R.T Silverwares | 10 |
| G.R.T Jewellers | 52 |
| G.R. Thanga Maligai | 10 |
| G.R. ThangaMaligai & Sons | 10 |
| ReNew Solar Energy | 100 |
| Adhiev India | 7 |
| NVR Energy | 100 |
| Solitaire BTN Solar | 150 |
| Alameen Green Energy | 60 |
| SRL Green and Clean Power | 6 |
| Avada Power | 400 |
| JLTM Energy India | 10 |
| Sunlight | 1 |
| Clean Sustainable Energy | 150 |
