Struggling to attract sufficient bids for its wind energy tenders, India has decided to increase the maximum tariff bid by 2.8% for its latest national-level tender.
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) recent issued key amendments to the ninth national wind energy tender.
SECI had issued the tender in September offering 1.8 gigawatts of capacity. The maximum bid allowed under the initial terms was Rs 2.85/kWh, which has now been increased to Rs 2.93/kWh.
Issues related to land acquisition, adequate transmission infrastructure, and timely payments seem to have emerged as major challenges for project developers over recent months.
Several states have threatened to cancel or renegotiate power purchase agreements with renewable energy generators.
More than a billion dollars of unpaid dues to the generators has limited developers’ ability to afford new investments.
It therefore comes as no surprise that the government has been forced to amend the terms of existing tenders.
To make the tenders attractive, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently issued revised guidelines for wind energy tenders. The revised guidelines offered reduced penalty for generation shortfall, increased tariff for generation resulting from early commissioning, and more time to commission projects.
Over the last year, the lowest wind energy tariff in SECI auctions has increased by 2.5%.
Reference- Mercom India, MNRE website, Clean Technica