“We will go for the reverse auction between the two bidders,” Anand Kumar, secretary at the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), told ET. “The capacity for reverse auction will be reduced by 20% of what has been subscribed,” he said.
The said tender had received tepid response from the industry, with only Adani Green Energy and SB Energy submitting bids during the techno-commercial stage due on November 20. Of the 1,200 MW capacity up for auctioning, Adani Green Energy bid for 600 MW capacity and SB Energy for 450 MW.
ET reported the same on November 21. Most developers chose to stay from the tender citing lower tariff ceiling, which was raised by 10 paise to Rs 2.70 per unit before the final date of bid submission. With only two players in the picture, there are fears that the bids received during reverse auctions would not be competitive.
“If we receive reasonable bids, we will go ahead with awarding the capacity. Otherwise we can cancel them,” said Kumar, who is also the chairman of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the implementing agency for national solar mission.
SECI had already clarified in the bid document that 80% of the bids received will be put up for reverse auction in case the tender was not fully subscribed, said a government official who did not wish to be quoted. The tender in question was floated in May this year for a capacity of 2,500 MW, but has since been scaled down to 1,200 MW.
An SECI official ET spoke with last week had said that the tender would go for reverse auctions — which are expected to bring tariffs further down — post evaluation of bids received during the technical stage. At present, only Hero Future Energies has a hybrid project — which requires both solar and wind capacities to be set up in one location — in its portfolio.
Hybrid projects are expected to bring down capital costs by optimising land availability and transmission infrastructure, among others. Some industry experts, however, said there are hardly any sites optimal for both solar and wind energy generation.
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