Over 400 companies submit EoIs for solar power generation
27 Sep 2010
More than 400 companies have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) to set up solar power units in India as part of India's plan to generate up to 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022 in order to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel and oil imports.
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), the nodal agency for the purchase of 1,000 MW of solar power from producers has invited bids for solar plants that can generate 650MW of electricity.
State-owned hydrocarbon giants like ONGC, OIL and GAIL, as well as Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd, Maharashtra State Power Generation Co, Karnataka Power Corporation, Punj Lloyd, Gammon India and Acme Tele Power Ltd are among the companies that have submitted EoIs ahead of the 24 September 2010 deadline.
NVVN is expected to award the projects by end nest month, where tariff has been capped below Rs19 per unit by the power sector regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
In July 2010, Indian minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah and minister for power Sushil Kumar Shinde jointly unveiled the guidelines for selection of solar power projects under the 1,000 megawatt (MW) solar power scheme in the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).
Under the JNNSM, the Indian government had set an ambitious target of 20,000 MW of solar power generation by 2022.
