SECI 2GW ISTS tender oversubscribed by 2.35 GW

• The tender received bids of total 4,350 MW solar capacity from 12 project developers
• Reverse auction for this tender is expected by next week

New Delhi: SECI's (Solar Energy Corporation of India) tender for 2 GW of ISTS (Interstate Transmission System) connected Solar PV Project under the ninth tranche has received an overwhelming response from project developers, resulting into an over-subscription by about 2.35 GW, said JMK Research and Analytics on Tuesday. The tender received bids of total 4,350 MW solar capacity from 12 project developers. SECI had floated this tender in the month of March this year, but due to COVID lockdown, its bid submission deadline got extended till June 22.

SECI 2GW ISTS tender: NTPC & NLC have also thrown their hats in the ring

This is the first major tender by SECI where bid submission is conducted after almost a gap of four months due to COVID-19. This has also been the first tender after the MNRE announced the removal of ceiling tariffs for wind and solar tenders. The minimum CUF condition for this tender is 17 percent and the commissioning timeline is 18 months. Reverse auction for this tender is expected by next week.

In this tender, some new names have thrown their hats in the ring, which were not active in the last few solar tenders, like SolarPack and ENEL. NTPC and Neyveli Lignite Corporation are two PSUs that are continuously building their solar project portfolio and are now actively participating across all major tenders.

What's up next on SECI's agenda?

Apart from this 2 GW tender, additionally, there are about 18.2 GW of SECI tenders where the bid submission date is before July 31.

July is a critical month for solar project developers as new form of duties in the form of Basic Custom Duties (of upto 20 percent) are likely to be notified before the lapse of safeguard duty (15 percent) by July 31. With the ongoing Indo-China border issues, it is likely that 20 percent of BCD will be applicable now on imported solar modules instead of earlier expected staggered implementation of BCD starting from 10 percent in initial years to 20 percent gradually. This will increase the solar project costs as module prices will increase. However, for projects where auctions are already completed before the notification of BCD, these projects will be protected under the "grandfathering" clause.

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