Technology

Solar Energy Corporation of India was given a Rs 500 crore cash pot to help developers in February, but that clearly wasn’t enough, as a second newly announced scheme underscores just how much financial distress the country’s state power companies are in.

The state-owned engineering major will set up a floating solar plant at NTPC Ramagundam in Telangana and a ground-mounted plant at Raghanesda Ultra Mega Solar Park in Gujarat, with a capacity of 100 MW each.

The Irrigation Department of Uttarakhand, in Dehradun, has re-tendered a 27 MW solar project at the Haripura Dam and a 13 MW installation at the Tumariya Dam in the Udham Singh Nagar district. The project will now be awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding.

SECI’s 1.2 GW solar auction saw four companies – Ayana Renewable, ReNew Power, Azure Power and Mahindra Susten – secure a combined capacity of 1.15 GW at Rs2.54/kWh. Avaada Energy won the remaining 50 MW, at Rs2.55.

Starting its journey as a department within Mahindra Group’s solar EPC company Mahindra Susten, the newly formed comprehensive asset care company for renewable energy customers aims to reach a 20 GWp global portfolio by 2022 from 4 GWp currently.

State-owned Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited (MPPMCL) has invited domestic and global players for providing grid-scale energy storage services of up to 500 MW with 8 hours of daily discharge and setting up a storage manufacturing facility in the state. The deadline for proposal submission is August 2.

State-owned power generator NTPC has invited bids for development of 1 GW grid-connected solar PV projects under Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) scheme Phase-II (Tranche-I). The projects are to be set up on turnkey basis under domestic content requirement category, anywhere in India. These will be awarded through domestic competitive bidding followed by reverse auction.

Cumulatively valued at Rs 520 crore, the projects include a 50 MW plant for Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Ltd, a 75 MW plant for Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd and a 10 MW plant for Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.

Following the Indian government’s 40 GW plan for the states, Telangana has pitched for setting up a 5 GW lithium ion plant by announcing the ready availability of 200 acres of land and power and water for the fab at a concessional rate.

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) cut its cost of electricity consumption from Rs 463.22 lakh during 2015-16 to Rs 163.78 lakh during 2018-19, using solar power generated from grid-connected PV projects installed at its various units.