Tamil Nadu approves plan for 3 GW of solar, wind tenders

Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corp (TANGEDCO) has received permission to hold tenders for the procurement of 3 GW of renewable energy capacity, including 1.5 GW of wind and solar each.

The power distribution firm’s two separate petitions for the respective technologies have been given the go-ahead by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC), TANGEDCO announced last week. According to the regulator’s decision, the discom will be able to launch three separate consecutive tenders for grid-connected solar power capacity, of 500 MW each, capped at INR 3 (USD 0.045/EUR 0.037) per kWh.

The regulator has also given permission for a 1.5-GW wind tender, also split in three 500-MW phases, in which the minimum capacity per project has to be at least 25 MW. The upper tariff ceiling was set at INR 2.65 per kWh.

In its approval, TNERC said it considers the staged procurement process as an appropriate mechanism to encourage competition, while enabling TANGEDCO to “get the real benefit of discovering a competitive price in the reverse bidding process.”

Tamil Nadu will need an additional 743 MW of solar power capacity to fulfill its solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO) requirement of 4,553 MW for the current fiscal year through March 2018. It will also need some 1,679 MW of wind to achieve the non-solar RPO requirement of 10.25% for 2018/19.

(INR 10 = USD 0.150/EUR 0.124)

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