Lone bid for 10 GW solar tender rejected

Delhi-based solar developer Azure Power had bid for a 2 GW project on a single site, as well as 600 MW of manufacturing capacity. According to reports, the government has rejected the bid, however, stating that the quoted price is unreasonable.

January 23, 2019 Uma Gupta

The Indian government has canceled the Azure bid.

Image: PRNewsFoto/Azure Power India Pvt Ltd

The Indian government has decided to reject the sole bid it received, from Azure Power, for its first ever manufacturing-linked solar tender, following dissatisfaction with the quoted price, power and renewable energy minister R.K. Singh has been quoted as saying by the Economic Times.

The much-hyped 10 GW manufacturing-linked tender issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was postponed six times and finally attracted one bidder, Azure Power. The Delhi-based developer had bid for a 2 GW project on a single site, as well as 600 MW of manufacturing capacity. That meant the mammoth tender was under-subscribed by almost 75%.

Allaying fears that the tender may be scrapped after six postponements and a tepid response from developers, the agency had decided to forge ahead with lone bidder Azure Power.

The tender, touted to be the world’s largest of its kind, was floated in May last year and initially mandated 5 GW of manufacturing capacity linked to ISTS-connected solar projects for an aggregate capacity of 10 GW. Following a poor response to the tender, the nodal agency reduced the manufacturing component to 3 GW, and the minimum project bid capacity from 1 GW to 600 MW.

“We found the price quoted by the bidder [Azure] to be unreasonable and hence we have decided to cancel the bid,” Singh told the Economic Times.

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