Solar Energy Corp. of India has recently launched a tender of 1000 MW capacity for development of grid-connected rooftop solar capacity for Central Government Ministries/Departments. This would be the largest rooftop tender to be launched by SECI, and is expected to give a big boost to the rooftop solar power generation segment.
The 1000 MW tender, one of the largest globally, is a move to rapidly escalate rooftop solar capacity in the country, and comes in quick succession to SECI’s earlier tender of 500 MW capacity, targeting buildings in the residential/institutional and social sectors.
SECI is the leading PSU in the rooftop solar segment and has already commissioned over 54 MW capacity of rooftop solar projects under multiple government schemes. The upcoming 1000 MW tender is especially targeted at utilizing the numerous buildings of the Central Government Ministries/Departments.
The highlight of this tender is its innovative ‘Achievement-Linked Incentives scheme’ wherein the incentives in terms of capital subsidy shall be provided on the basis of performance achieved by designated Ministries/departments against their committed targets in the given time span.
In this scheme the grid-connected rooftop solar systems shall be installed with the financial assistance for MNRE in the form of Incentives. The power generated from the systems shall be used for meeting the captive requirement of the buildings, and the surplus power, if any, shall be fed to the grid under the net-metering arrangement of the respective state.
MNRE has also collated the demand of the various Ministries/departments for implementation of the systems. Based on the indicative list of sites provided by MNRE and various interested Ministries, SECI is carrying out a potential assessment which shall be provided to the solar PV developers (SPD).
By Baishakhi Dutta
