Telangana to auction 2GW of solar power capacity

Solar farm at Telangana

The government of the south Indian state of Telangana is gearing up to invite tenders for the auction of solar power projects with total capacity of 2GW.

It is the largest such initiative by either a state or the central government in India till date.

Apparently the government is pinning its hopes on the kind of response it received from the auction of 500MW of projects last year.

Domestic as well as foreign project developers had won significant project capacities at last year’s auction.

Goldman Sachs-backed Renew Power, First Solar and ACME Solar had together bagged 300 MW capacity at the auction.

Of this, Renew Power alone cornered 140 MW capacity. And ACME and First Solar succeeded in securing 80 MW and 65 MW projects respectively.

Over the next few weeks, the government is expected to initiate the process for issue of tender notice.

And the projects to be offered for bidding are likely to be 100 percent solar photovoltaic.

According to the state government, developers for the projects would be shortlisted through competitive bidding.

And the base tariff for power to be generated is expected to be below $0.1 per kWh.

Telangana’s efforts are in keeping with the central government’s proposal to increase the renewable energy capacity of the country from 22 GW at present to 100 GW by 2022.

The state has also been competing with its parent territory Andhra Pradesh to attract investment — particularly in the power sector — among its measures to attain self-sufficiency.

Both states have signed separate agreements with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up solar power plants of 1 GW capacity each.

Telangana plans to add 5 GW of solar power capacity and 4 GW wind energy capacity by 2019.

Ajith Kumar S

[email protected]