Tamil Nadu floats 500 MW solar tender with tariff cap

Supervising authority has given the state distribution company the green light to conduct three 500 MW solar tenders. The move marks the first procurement exercise held by TANGEDCO in almost 12 months.

Tamil Nadu is set to restart solar tenders after almost a year’s inactivity.

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The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has tendered for 500 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects with an upper tariff ceiling of Rs3/kWh.

With a bid-submission deadline of December 27, the move marks TANGEDCO’s first tender after an almost year-long hiatus.

Recently, TANGEDCO had secured approval from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulation Commission (TNERC) to float a solar and wind power tender for this financial year.

TNERC has approved three successive 500 MW tenders for grid-connected solar. Bidders must offer a minimum 5 MW, and there is a maximum 50 MW per location, although a single bidder can compete for the entire 500 MW capacity of each tendering exercise.

Government held up tender

TANGEDCO will sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with successful bidders, who will have a year to commission projects.

The tender organizer had sought permission for solar/wind tenders in April but a decision was delayed because the federal government wanted to amend some of the guiding principles.

TANGEDCO cancelled a 500 MW solar tender issued in January 2017, after the resulting tariff was Rs4.40/kWh.

The state distribution company has also issued a tender for 500 MW of wind power projects in the state, with Rs2.65/kWh as the tariff ceiling. The bid-submission deadline is December 28.

Tamil Nadu’s installed solar capacity is around 1.8 GW with another 1 GW in the pipeline. The state’s wind power capacity is 7,858 MW with a further 1 GW tendered.

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