Karnataka Renewable Energy receives 22 bids for setting up solar projects…

• Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) has received 22 bids for setting up solar power projects under the ‘Karnataka solar policy’. Today was the last day for submitting the bids. Mr N S Prasanna Kumar, Managing Director, KREDL, said. As part of its 350 MW programme, KREDL had floated a tender inviting bids for setting up projects that total to 80 MW. The projects would be allocated under ‘reverse bidding’ process. They will be allocated to bidders who have quoted the steepest discounts to the tariff fixed by KREDL (Rs 14.50).

• Mr Kumar however declined to comment on the other details such as the total capacity of all the bids submitted and the prices offered. “We cannot check the technical details of the bids till the RFP (request for proposals) for bidders under the Phase I Batch II of the National Solar Mission is closed,” Mr Kumar pointed out. (The last date for submission of bids under the Batch II of NSM is December 2. Disclosing the winning tariffs in Karnataka would influence the bidding process under NSM.) The allocation of projects with respect to these tenders would start soon, he said. The government has identified land to set up the 80 MW of solar plants, which would be allotted for a period of 30 years of lease, Mr Kumar said.

• However, it is learnt from sources that only two bids, totalling 20 MW, have been received for ‘solar thermal’ projects. KREDL had invited bids for 30 MW of solar thermal and 50 MW of photo voltaic. While the ‘thermal’ part of it has been under-bid, the PV portion has received bids for substantially more than 50 MW. Apar t from the projects under the solar policy, Mr Kumar had recently said that projects with a total capacity of 200 MW would be taken up under the REC scheme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). “Some companies have already applied for projects under REC mechanism and we will allot the ‘REC mechanism projects’ very shortly,” Mr Kumar said. For these, however, there is no deadline as it is a “continuous process”.

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