The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has received technical bids aggregating more than 8,500 MW for a tendered capacity of 750 MW at the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan. The tender, which has been oversubscribed by 12 times, has a benchmark price of Rs 3.15 per kWh and has been postponed repeatedly since November 2016. The financial bids are yet to be opened.
The Madhya Pradesh government entered into two project agreements with Mahindra Renewables, ACME Solar Holdings and Solengeri Power on April 17, 2017, following which the project developers Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park has achieved commercial closure assigned two sets of power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed by with the project developers including Mahindra Renewables, ACME Solar Holdings and Solengeri Power with the state discoms Madhya Pradesh Power Management Corporation Limited and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on April 17, 2017. The DMRC will buy about 24 per cent of the energy generated from the solar park, to for meeting close to 80 per cent of its daytime energy requirement, with MPPMCL purchasing the rest. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the lead transaction advisor for this project and will mobilise $550 million in private investment.
SB Energy Holdings, a joint venture between among the SoftBank Group, Bharti Enterprises and the Foxconn Technology Group, has commissioned a 350 MW solar power project in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, under the MNRE’s Ssolar Pparks scheme of MNRE. The plant commenced operations on March 29, 2017, 51 days ahead of the scheduled date agreed in the PPA.
Vikram Solar has commissioned a 10 MW solar project in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). The project, which is spread across over an area of 66 acres, will help TTD save Rs 45 million in utility bills. The generated power is being evacuated at 33 kvV ratio and it is being fed into the Mudivedu sub-station.
Vikram Solar has also commissioned two 10- MW solar projects for Jindal Aluminum in Karnataka. The projects are connected to the Mayakonda substation. One of the 10 MW projects is part of the Karnataka state government’s plans to develop 1,200 MW of solar projects in across 60 talukas. The other 10 MW project has been developed under the Karnataka Independent Power Producer (IPP) programme.
Rays Power Infra Private Limited has commissioned a 78 MW solar project in Bhagwanpur, Uttarakhand. Execution of the project, which was allocated by the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) through a competitive bidding process in 2015-16, started in November 2016. The power generated will be supplied to the industrial areas of Bhagwanpur and Roorkee. The project is unique in the sense that local farmers have been made stakeholders to in ithe project. More than 1,000 farmers will acquire benefits from this project by receiveing a constant regular monthly source of income for the entire life of the project life.