India is planning to launch largest bidding for solar power project of 1,500 MW capacity under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) program.
Under this banner, three energy ministries of India government namely coal, Power and Renewable Energy will come together for the successful completion of the mission.
The bidding is a part of second batch of phase II of JNNSM. The mission aims to achieve an additional capacity of 10,000MW by 2017. As part of this phase, the government has already awarded 750MW solar projects.
Current solar capacity of the country is 2,600 MW. By 2020, government plans to attain a minimum of 20,000 MW capacity. The produced power will be integrated with conventional power and sold to distribution companies at subsidised rate.
Bundling of power and distribution will be taken care by NTPC VidyutVyapar Nigam (NVVN). The bundled power will be sold at an average rate of Rs 4-4.5 per unit.
Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary, MNRE, said, “Consultation process with all the stakeholders are going on and bidding guidelines will soon come out which is expected to commence by July-August.”
The Ministry responsible for the three key energy portfolios had earlier indicated at setting up of higher targets with extended timeline of the solar mission.
Government is also looking forward to ultra mega power projects of 1,000 MW each for solar. Solar power price has come down to Rs 6.5-7 per unit, a 60 percent decline in the last three years. During bidding, the solar power cost crashed to Rs 8-10 per unit from Rs 17 per unit in 2011.