India may call tender for 750-MW Solar Mission batch this month - report

Oct 1, 2013 - The tender for the first 750-MW batch of phase II of India's National Solar Mission, which was already delayed several times, may be announced in 10 days, Bloomberg said today citing a government official.

Tarun Kapoor, joint-secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, told the business news provider in an interview that the Cabinet’s nod for the viability gap funding (VGF) section of the auction was seen to come “very soon”.

The second phase of the solar mission will be delivered in several batches as the targeted capacity is high -- 3 GW. Batch I is for 750 MW of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) plants. Instead of offering high power purchase rates to solar parks as was the case with phase In, India has now adopted the VGF model. Under it, the government provides financial support to make projects commercially viable. It would see bidders vie for VGF requirement per megawatt of capital cost which comes to compensate them for selling the output at regular prices and not at preferential tariffs. The winning bidders will be developers who require the lowest VGF amount per MW.

The start of the 750-MW auction was initially planned for the spring of 2013 but it was delayed due to pressure from the US, which opposed India's requirements for the use of locally-produced PV equipment. Another delay was announced in June because the government had not yet commented on the VGF model.

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