Govt to invite bids for 20,000 MW wind power capacity

The government on Friday announced plans to invite bids for its third wind power auction and also announced the road map for achieving the targets of commissioning 175 GW of renewable energy, including100 GW of solar generating capacity and 60 GW of wind power, by 2022.

Elaborating the RE development road map, Anand Kumar, secretary MNRE, said the ministry, along with the states, would lay out bids for ground mounted solar parks for 20 GW in 2017-18. Out of this 3.6 GW have already been bid out, 3 GW will be bid out in December 2017, 3 GW will be bid out in January 2018, 5 GW in February 2018 and 6 GW in March 2018, he said.

Another 30 GW will be bid out in 2018-19 and 30 GW in 2019-20, he added. 

Further, Kumar said that against the target of 60 GW for wind power, 32 GW have already been commissioned. The central government in participation with the state governments intends to issue bids of cumulative capacity of about 8 GW this year. Out of this, 5 GW (including present 2 GW) have already been bid out, 1,500-2,000 MW will be bid out in January 2018 and 1,500-2,000 MW in March 2018.

A total of 10 GW will be bid out in the financial year 2018 and another 10 GW in 2019, leaving a margin of 2 years for commissioning of projects. Kumar said his ministry would soon be issuing the guidelines for bidding at wind power auctions.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) under the union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), meanwhile, signed power supply agreements with utilities of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Punjab, Goa and Odisha.

Addressing a function in the capital, union minister of state for power and new and renewable energy Raj Kumar Singh said his ministry will soon issue an Expression of Interest (EoI) to the industry for establishing domestic capacity of 20 GW, which will also meet `Make in India' goals.

He pointed to the industry's long pending demand to declare the government's renewable energy roadmap. He said the government intends to speed up renewable energy capacity installation in the country and strengthen the RE manufacturing base in India.

Further, he said, the MNRE is exploring innovative ways to achieve additional installed renewable capacity through floating solar power plants over dams, offshore wind energy systems and hybrid solar-wind power systems, which may provide over 10GW additional capacity.

He said an MNRE team of experts has already surveyed the Bhakra Nangal dam for floating solar power plants and off-shore Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for wind power plants, the minister added.

The minister expressed confidence in achieving a minimum RE target of 175GW by 2022 and even exceeding it, along with providing 24x7 affordable, clean and efficient power for all.

Singh said these targets would be achieved with the cooperation of the states while ensuring that their power utilities (Discoms) remain financially viable. The centre has provided all the required support, including funds under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), to the states to ensure `24x7 Power for All' by strengthening the intra-state transmission networks and by ensuring mandatory presence of metered connections, he said.

The ministry is in talks with the states to ensure 100 per cent metered connections through smart/pre-paid meters, Singh added.

Singh emphasised the need to states and discoms ensuring that power purchase agreements (PPAs) are mandatorily honoured. He said his ministry is in constant talks with state governments, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, to ensure that PPAs are honoured.

He also spoke of the need to strictly adhere to the renewable power purchase obligations (RPOs) in order to ensure success of the programme.

Kumar also said that with wind power tariffs becoming competitive and state Discoms encouraged to buy more of renewable power, the government has doubled the auction capacity for the third national level wind auction from 4GW last year to around 9GW in the current year.

Regarding clarity on GST rates on solar panels, Kumar said the MNRE is in talks with the ministry of finance and in the next 7-10 days all the issues would be resolved.

The present scheme of wind power auction is for setting up of 2,000 MW wind power project connected to inter-state transmission system (ISTS). The bidder can bid for a minimum capacity of 50 MW and maximum up to 400 MW. The projects under this scheme are expected to be commissioned towards the end of 2019. 

On the occasion, power sale agreements (PSA) for purchase of wind power under second wind auction with states were also signed with Solar Energy Corporation of India with utilities of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Punjab, Goa and Odisha. The reverse auction for SECI-II wind bid was conducted on 4 October 2017, which resulted in very competitive tariff of Rs2.64/2.65 per unit.  

It may be mentioned that the winners of SECI II wind bid included: Renew Power (250 MW at Rs2.64/unit), Orange (200 MW at Rs2.64 per unit), Inox (250 MW at Rs2.65 per unit), Green Infra (250 MW at Rs2.65 per unit) and Adani Green (50 MW at Rs2.65 per unit) would be setting up wind power plants in states of Gujarat, TN and MP to sell power to these utilities. PPAs with these winners are expected to be signed shortly.