The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has given approval to Green Infra Wind Energy, a subsidiary of Singaporean renewables developer Sembcorp, to build a 450MW hybrid solar-plus-wind project in India.
While Sembcorp did not specify where the project would be built, or the relative capacity of the project’s solar and wind components, it noted that SECI granted the letter of award as part of a broader programme to build 2GW of new solar-plus-wind capacity in India. Sembcorp was one of five companies to finalise deals with SECI for this capacity, and successfully bid for the largest share of electricity generation capacity available, with NTPC Renewable Energy receiving approval for a 300MW project, the next biggest win.
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Sembcorp also announced that electricity generated at the new project would be sold to SECI under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA), and SECI’s acquisition of this electricity will be funded through a combination of internal funds and debt.
This capacity will be connected to the country’s national grid, the Inter State Transmission System, and is part of India’s ambitious renewables deployment plan, which includes solar and wind accounting for two-thirds of new capacity additions between the 2022 and 2032 financial years. However, just 1.2GW of the total capacity was assigned in this bidding round, suggesting that new solar and wind projects in India are undersubscribed, or bids are not considered suitable by SECI.
SECI may need to accelerate its granting of permits, considering that India is aiming to install 186GW of solar capacity by the 2027 financial year. Think tank Ember suggests that this would require a year-on-year increase in solar capacity additions of 36% compared to current levels of installation. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), solar accounted for 55.8% of new power generation capacity additions in India in 2023, but India added almost 4GW of new solar capacity less than in 2022, raising questions about the long-term future of solar in India.
The news follows Sembcorp’s acquisition of an under-construction solar project in India from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. The company completed the deal in December, and the project will add 300MW of capacity to Sembcorp’s Indian portfolio.
