Andhra Pradesh To Float India's Largest Tender For Solar Power Projects Worth 10 Gigawatt

Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to float India's largest solar tender for setting up 10 gigawatts (GW) of power generation capacity, reports Livemint.

The request for proposal (RFP) for the 10 GW tender will be floated soon, and the bids will be called based on the land getting ready.

The project comes at a time when the solar power tariffs had recently touched a record low of Rs 2.36 per unit at an auction conducted by the Centre-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI).

The steady implementation of the tender and the associated projects would add richly to the nation's existing 34.6 GW solar power generation capacity and also help in achieving the goal to build the capacity to generate 100 GW of solar energy by March 2022, before India completes 75 years of Independence from the British Raj.

Andhra Pradesh already has about 7.7 GW of solar and wind energy generation capacity and is India's second-largest generator of renewable and clean power. It accounts for around 10 per cent of the nation's green energy capacity which has been built with an investment of about Rs 60,000 crore.

However, the State Government's push for the 10 GW solar power tender comes as a surprise to many as 5.2 GW of existing solar and wind power projects in the State are presently in limbo because of the State Government's unilateral move to revise the price per unit agreed under the power purchase agreement (PPA). The State Government had went on to assert that it would terminate the PPAs in case of non-compliance by the power generators. The matter is presently under litigation.