GUVNL Re-Tenders 700 MW Solar Capacity For Dholera Solar Park

• For 1 GW Dholera Solar Park, GUVNL has re-tendered 700 MW of unallocated capacity
• Tariffs have been capped at INR 2.92 per kWh and projects will be developed on BOO basis
• Winners will set up 14 projects with 50 MW capacity each, as 300 MW has already been auctioned
• GUVNL has also declared winners for its 500 MW grid connected solar power auction Phase-VIII with the lowest bid coming in at INR 2.61 per kWh

The Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) has launched a tender to procure power from 700 MW grid connected solar PV capacity located in the 1 GW Dholera Solar Park (Phase IX). This is a re-tendering of the unallocated capacity out of a 1 GW tender it launched in January 2019 under Phase V and a follow-up tender of Phase VII in June 2019 (see GUVNL Issues Tenders For 950 MW Solar).

GUVNL will purchase power generated by this capacity under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The capacity will be built by successful developers on build-own-operate (BOO) basis. Tariffs are capped at INR 2.92 ($0.039) per kWh. This tariff level is higher than INR 2.75 per kWh that the agency secured as the lowest winning bid for 250 MW auctioned out of the 1 GW Dholera Solar Park tender, which was also the tariff cap for the re-tendered 750 MW capacity in June 2019.

The entire 1 GW capacity is to be developed in the form of 20 plants with 50 MW each. GUVNL says the auction process for 6 projects with 300 MW capacity have been completed. The other 14 projects of 50 MW each  will be built once developers are selected.

Submissions will be accepted till April 18, 2020 and financial bids opened on April 27, 2020. Detailed tender documents can be viewed on GUVNL's website.

Auction winners for 500 MW capacity

GUVNL has attracted INR 2.61 ($0.035) per kWh as the lowest winning bid for its 500 MW grid connected solar project Phase VIII tender it launched in February 2020 with INR 2.65 per kWh as the benchmark tariff (see GUVNL Launches 500 MW Solar Tender Under Ph-VIII).

Mercom India Research says the tender was undersubscribed with 430 MW total bids coming in, and as a result GUVNL awarded only 80% of the bid capacity. The lowest winning bid or L1 bid came from Vena Energy that won 40 MW capacity while Juniper Green Energy took hold of 190 MW for INR 2.63 ($0.0356) per kWh and Tata Power won 120 MW for INR 2.64 ($0.0357) per kWh.

The decision to formally adopt these tariffs now rests with the Gujarat State Electricity Commission (GERC).