Around 10 companies to set up Solar PV Projects under Karnataka Solar Mission…

As per the news clip on the Hindu Business Line

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A total of 10 companies plan to set up solar projects in the State under the Karnataka Solar Mission over the next six months.

Of these, eight companies plan to set up solar photovoltaic projects for 60 MW, while two will set up solar thermal projects of 10 MW each.

“Most projects will come up in North Karnataka,” Mr N.S. Prasanna Kumar, Managing Director of Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL), told Business Line. “KREDL will help in giving out government land on lease to companies that don't have their own land,” he added.

Twenty-two companies had participated in the tender for setting up 80-MW solar thermal and solar photovoltaic projects called for by KREDL, the State nodal agency for promoting renewable energy. This was as part of Karnataka Solar Mission targeting 350 MW of solar projects by 2016. “The next round of tenders will be floated soon after the financial closure for all these projects is achieved. It could be about six months from now,” Mr Kumar said.

The projects are allocated under ‘reverse bidding' process where projects will be allocated to bidders who have quoted the steepest discounts to the tariff of Rs 14.50 fixed by KREDL.

For photovoltaic plants, Helena Power Private Ltd and Jindal Aluminium Ltd have offered the highest discounts of 656 and 625 paise per unit and have been allotted 10 MW capacity each.

Sunborne Energy Services India and Atria Power Corporation will be setting up solar thermal plants, offering discounts of 41 and 3 paise per unit, respectively.

Delay in bids

The announcement of winners of the technical bids comes after a delay – almost three months after the bids for the projects closed on November 24, 2011. The delay in opening the bid documents was because the bidding process for the second batch of projects under the National Solar Mission was on.

KREDL has said that the allocations for the State policy would be made only after the National Solar Mission bids were closed. Meanwhile, following complaints by small time developers, the State Energy Department had issued a stay order on the process, which caused further delay.

 

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Sunborne Energy mulls Rs 6 billion solar thermal plant in South India…

• Sunborne Energy, a Haryana-based solar power producer backed by General Catalyst Partners and Khosla Ventures, is contemplating setti ng up a 50-Mw solar thermal power project in Andhra Pradesh for an investment in the range of Rs 500 crore and Rs 600 crore (including land cost). The company has already acquired 200 acres in Andhra Pradesh and is now trying to work it out with the state government to set up the plant.

• "We are keenly watching the policy framework developments in the state. As and when we get a nod from the Andhra Pradesh government, we will go for it. We are technology-agnostic and we want to go with a technology (photo voltaic, crystalline or thin film) which is reliable and bankable, and is closer to the lowest cost of energy (LCOE)," Gagan Vermani, executive director and chief operating officer, said. Vermani said, they had seen Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka coming up with some sort of policies, besides the National Solar Mission. "In AP, we have to wait for the right (policy) environment," he said.

• Sunborne, which had so far rais ed $25 million in a two-round funding from General Catalyst Partners, recently signed a power purchase agreement with the Gujarat government, for a 50-Mw solar thermal power plant and is expecting the project to be commissioned in the next couple of months. Also in the pipeline is a 5-Mw power project in Rajasthan under the MNRE scheme, to be completed by March 2012. "We are looking to expand aggressively and want to achieve a 20-Mw on-ground installed capacity by the end of this financial year and reach 200 Mw (only photo voltaic) in the next fiscal," Vermani said, adding the company was targeting a grid-parity by 2014 in photo voltaic by 2014.

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Sunborne Gets 1.4 Billion-Rupee Loan for India Solar Project…

According to reports, Sunborne Energy LLC, a solar power developer backed by billionaire Vinod Khosla, got a 1.4 billion- rupee ($30.6 million) loan to build a plant following India’s first auction of solar development permits.

State Bank of Patiala, Canara Bank Ltd., Export-Import Bank of India and State Bank of Travancore agreed to the 12-year loan for a 15-megawatt plant in Gujarat state, Sunborne Chief Financial Officer Anil Nayar said today in a telephone interview. Sunborne has a nine-month grace period on payments.

India plans to build solar capacity equivalent to one nuclear plant by January, requiring about $3.2 billion in investment. Funding has been a hurdle for project developers, including billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power Ltd. and Lanco Infratech Ltd., because some banks won’t lend to an industry that’s new to India.

“It took a long time, but they came through,” Nayar said, declining to disclose the interest rate on the loan, saying it was in line with local market rates for project financing. Such deals may make banks more comfortable lending to solar projects in India and allow the industry to expand, he said.

Banks have said power generation may fall short of targets because there’s little historical data on solar-radiation patterns in the country and equipment may not perform as expected under India’s climatic conditions.

As part of the Sunborne financing agreement, the lenders demanded a guarantee fund that could be tapped should power output fall “significantly” in the first two years, Nayar said. “We’ve been conservative in our own estimates so it shouldn’t be a factor.”

Sunborne, whose investors include U.S. venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners, International Finance Corp. and Khosla Ventures, expects to complete the plant as early as November. China’s Suntech Power Holdings Co., the world’s largest producer of silicon solar panels, has begun delivery of the equipment and construction has started, Nayar said.

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