New Delhi: NHPC Limited, a Miniratna hydropower PSU under the Ministry of Power, said on Friday that it has successfully conducted the e-reverse auction (E-RA) for the 2,000 MW grid-connected solar PV project to be set up anywhere in India. The auction was held in the presence of NHPC Limited's CMD AK Singh and Director (Technical) YK Chaubey.
In a tweet, Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh said, "Bid for setting up 2,000 MW of solar generation capacity was finalised by NHPC, a CPSU under the Ministry of Power, at a competitive tariff of Rs 2.55/2.56 per unit. During the lockdown, we kept our interaction with stakeholders alive through virtual platforms and also brought out new bids." He also said that the tariff is the result of several measures that have been undertaken during the past few months to enhance the confidence of investors and to promote ease of doing business. "We stand committed to minimizing the risk to investors," Sigh said.
The e-reverse auction (E-RA) was conducted amongst seven bidders with an aggregate capacity of 3,140 MW. Against the total allocated capacity of 2,000 MW, the lowest e-RA tariff of Rs 2.55/-unit to Rs 2.56/-unit was achieved against the initially quoted tariff of Rs 2.71/ unit to Rs 2.78/ unit. In spite of a complete lockdown in India due to Coronavirus (COVID-19, NHPC Limited has successfully completed the e-reverse auction.
With the COVID lockdown bringing the country to a standstill, much concern has been expressed over the pace of execution of renewable energy projects. India is aiming to reach an installed renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022. However, since the pace of capacity addition has already been slow, the Corona crisis and the subsequent lockdown has stoked fears that India might miss its target.