One of the recent solar power auctions in India has received a massive response from project developers.
The Rewa solar power park tender of 750 megawatts has attracted bids from some of the leading project developers in India and abroad. A total of 20 developers have placed bids with a cumulative capacity of 7,500 megawatts, translating into a 10 times over-subscription of the tender.
The solar power park will be developed in 3 phases of 250 MW capacity each, spread over a total of 1,500 hectares. Power generation from the first phase is expected to start beginning in June 2017, with the entire capacity expected to be fully operational by December 2017.
Of the 20 bidders, four have submitted to develop all three sections of the park. ReNew Power (one of India’s leading renewable energy developers and backed by Goldman Sachs), SBG Cleantech (joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, SoftBank and Foxconn), Enel Green Power and Adani Group (operator of India’s largest solar power project) submitted bids to develop the entire 750 megawatts capacity.
Hero Future Energies and Mahindra Renewables, both parts of large industrial conglomerates in India placed bids to develop 500 megawatts each.
A number of reputed Indian and global companies submitted bids to develop 250 megawatts capacity each. These include Acme Solar, Orange Renewables, Torrent Power, GDF Suez, RattanIndia Power, Aditya Birla Renewables, Azure Power Canadian Solar and Solenergi Power.
Almost a third of the planned capacity has already been allocated to the Delhi Rail Metro Corporation (DMRC) while the rest will be signed up by the distribution utilities of the host state, Madhya Pradesh. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide funding for the project.
