SECI proposed this as a befitting alternative to the state government’s 6,400 MW solar power tenders
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Ltd has requested the Andhra Pradesh government to avail the 9,000 MW solar power projects that it awarded under the manufacturing-linked solar tenders initiative.
As per a report by the Indian Express, SECI proposed this as a befitting alternative to the state government’s 6,400 MW solar power tenders.
SECI added that under the manufacturing-linked power supply agreement (PSA), the state can benefit from various advantages including offering the power at Rs 2.49/kWh, waiver of interstate transmission system (ISTS) charges for the entire 25 years of power purchase agreement (PPA) and others.
The Andhra Pradesh government had proposed to establish 10,000 MW solar power plants — 6,400 MW in the first phase — as a part of its endeavour to offer free power to the farmers for the next 30 years.
Accordingly, AP Green Energy Corporation Ltd (APGECL) floated tenders in December, 2020, and firms including Adani Renewable Energy, HES Infra, NTPC, Shirdi Sai Electricals, and Torrent Power were later finalised by the state corporation with the tariff ranging from Rs 2.47/kWh to Rs 2.58/kWh.
However, AP High Court quashed the tenders in June this year after Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd filed a petition complaining that the request for proposal and the draft PPA were not in line with the Electricity Act norms.
SECI explained that 12,000 MW projects were awarded in four tranches of 3,000 MW each under the manufacturing-linked solar tender between December, 2019, and June, 2020.
The tranche-I capacities were offered to various utilities and the PSAs are expected to be inked in due course, it added.
The balance of the entire 9,000 MW, to be set up in three phases of 3,000 MW each, are expected to be ready in September 2024, September, 2025, and September, 2026 respectively.
“Accordingly, it is our request to the government of AP to avail the entire 9,000 MW solar power to be set up during the years of 2024, 2025 and 2026. We, at SECI, believe that manufacturing-linked 9,000 MW solar power would be an apt and befitting alternative to government of AP’s recent tender and it would achieve all its stated objectives including costs and would be economically cheaper. Besides, AP will be supporting the nation for the development of indigenous manufacturing under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan,” SECI’s general manager Atulya Kumar Naik said in the letter seeking AP’s confirmation on the same.
In July, SECI signed its first PSA with Grid Corporation of Odisha, a subsidiary of Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), to supply 500 MW under the manufacturing-linked initiative.
