• The government of India has announced that it has tendered 20,766 MW of solar power capacity
  • Out of this, letters of intent have been signed for over 3 GW, and PPAs have been signed for over 8 GW
  • Financial bids have been opened for a total of 1,930 MW, with over 6 GW yet to be opened

The New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal informed the lower house of the Indian Parliament recently that out of the 20,766 MW of solar power capacity tendered, around 3,392 MW have received letters of intent. Financial bids have been opened for a total of 1,930 MW, while bids are yet to be opened for 6,962 MW capacity. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) have been signed for 8,482 MW.

While the government is now also trying to push the solar rooftop segment, it is the utility scale market that carries the bulk of solar’s growth in India. In particular, capacities for Solar Parks, which are auctioned by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), are quite uncomplicated projects for developers. That’s because the government is in charge of acquiring land for the projects, transmission lines and other infrastructure needed. Going by the positive response to these solar parks, the government recently increased the target for the solar park generation capacity from 20,000 MW to 40,000 MW (see India Doubles Solar Park Target).

The country has a big task ahead of achieving solar power capacity of 100 GW by 2022. As of June 30, 2016, it had an installed capacity of 7,805 MW (see India PV Capacity By June 2016). The country is aiming to add 12,000 MW of solar power capacity in the current fiscal year 2016-17.