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India: Rajasthan announces improved solar bidding process

Rajasthan has resumed its bidding process for PV and thermal projects. This process was previously postponed in May. Some major changes will be undertaken.

Rajasthan resumes its bidding process.

Flickr/Ashu Mittal

The postponement in May had led to frustration for many who had invested time and money to take part in the bidding process as highlighted by Madhavan Nampoothiri, Founder and Director of RESolve Energy Consultants in May.

The biggest change is that all the selected projects will be located in one solar park, that is Village Bhadla, Tehsil Phalodi, District Jodhpur. The Rajasthan Solarpark Development Company Limited will allocate suitable plots to the winners of the bidding process.

Nampoothiri tells pv magazine that a total of 200 MW of solar projects (100 MW of PV and 100 MW CSP) will be allocated under the reverse bidding process similar to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. During the previous bidding process which was postponed, the power was to be purchased by one of the three Discoms in the states Jaipur, Ajmer and Jodhpur, namely JVVNL, AVVNL and JdVVNL.

As a result of the fact that now the PPA will be signed between the developer and RRECL, some of the off-take risk has been reduced as Nampoothiri explains.

A pre-bid meeting will be held on December, 7 and the last date for submission is January, 11. The reference price has been stated at Rs. 8.42/kWh.