Monday, June 03, 2013: A month ago the government was unsure if it would be able to get developers for its 260 MW solar energy projects. However, things seem to be a lot more satisfactory for the last few weeks. Many developers are now interested in the projects floated by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and have committed for even more capacity addition, amounting to 690 MW.
Friday was the last day for submission of proposals. At the last hour of the deadline; i.e. around 5 pm, 23 developers had sent their letters conveying their willingness in the solar projects. The proposals included interest shown for capacity addition. A month ago, the number of developers committing for the projects stood at 30. However, with this turn of events, a total of 53 Letters of Intent (LoI) was issued by the State Corporation.
If one were to calculate, with the average investment required per capacity being Rs 8 crore for every MW, the total budget for the project would be Rs 5.520 crore. The rates have been determined by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. Tangedco is the body that administers Solar Power Obligations (SPO) in Tamil Nadu and is also responsible for facilitating investors and procuring electricity from the plants hence setup under the projects.
Bids for the 20-year long projects were floated in the month of December, 2012. When contacted with an official from Tangedco about the possible reasons of the sudden rise in interest, he said that since the Board of Directors had cleared the first phase of bidders this February, the corporation had allowed a convenient timeline for some power utility bidders to come back to the scheme of things. These were also the ones who initially disagreed with the Tangedco’s power purchase policies. Ramanathapuram and Tiruvannamalai are the two districts where the projects are planned to be deployed.
