SJVN Launches Open Access Tender For 1 GW Solar

• SJVN Limited wants to set up 1 GW solar power capacity under open access scheme in India
• It has invited interested firms to arrange for land, connectivity, open access and PPAs with interested offtakers
• Winners will also be required to ensure requisite regulatory approvals, and lock in banking agreements

Indian hydroelectric power generator SJVN Limited, has launched a tender for 1 GW of solar power capacity under the open access (OA) scheme to be set up across the country. SJVN Limited is a joint venture between the Government of India and the State Government of Himachal Pradesh.

The tender specifies that SJVN seeks to hire services of firms to arrange land, connectivity, open access and power purchase agreement (PPA) for 25 years for 1 GW capacity.

Broad scope of work includes identifying potential consumers who can procure power through solar OA power plants in Indian states. Winners will also be required to undertake feasibility studies to undertake open access business with potential customers, negotiation and finalizing agreements, signing banking agreement and long term OA approvals with state regulators, identifying and securing land for feasible projects.

The pre-bid meeting is scheduled for February 26, 2021 while the last date to submit bids online is March 3, 2021 and offline March 6, 2021. Details of the tender can be sourced on SJVN's website.  

Under OA, large energy consumers with more than 1 MW connected load and access to existing transmission network, are allowed to source power from the open market at competitive prices, choosing to buy it from suppliers other than the local distributor. At the end of December 2020, India's total installed capacity in the OA market was close to 4 GW led by Karnataka, according to the January 2021 Open Access Solar Market in India—Key States report by Mercom India Research. The OA market has more than 1 GW of project development capacity in the pipeline, stated the report.

This tender follows SJVN inviting expressions of interest for independent power producers (IPP) to enable it to acquire solar and hydro power projects in July 2020 in line with its target to have 25 GW power production capacity by 2040, growing from 2.016 GW in January 2021 (see SJVN Launches Tender To Acquire Hydro/Solar Projects). In November 2020, it wanted to buy 1,500-acre land in Rajasthan to set up solar power projects (see India PV News Snippets: SJVN, BSUL, OIL, Telangana).