Saturday, February 22, 2014: The government reportedly opened the financial bids for the development of 750 MW of solar energy capacity under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). With the bid opening, many private companies have been able to secure some good solar projects, like SEI, Azure Power and ACME.
The projects under the first batch, of the second phase, of ambitious the JNNSM, were put on bid recently. SEI and Azure Power India won the bid projects of nearly 100 MW each. The ACME won the solar project to develop 80 MW capacity under the national solar mission.
With the government seriously undertaking to solar energy, it is reported that bids for 2,170 MW solar capacity were received, as against the 750 MW capacity on offer under the second phase, said a Business Standard report. Wherein, half of the total capacity will be developed using domestic manufacture, while, rest of the material will be sourced by open category, where even imported equipment can be used.
Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, ACME Solar’s chairman said that the success of JNNSM’S second phase is a momentous occasion for all stakeholders in achieving the goal of clean and green energy, with ACME as the surfaced largest developer in the open category. ACME Solar is a joint venture of ACME with French firm EDF Energies Nouvelles and Luxembourg based EREN.
The Solar Energy Corporation of India, which is under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), is the central agency responsible for the second phase of JNNSM. It cleared 63 companies as eligible to make financial bids, for the second phase after they were cleared at the techno-commercial evaluation stage.
However, earlier this month, US challenged the obligatory use of the domestic manufacture for JNNSM’s projects. It alleged that India’s obligation was discriminatory and against international norms. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) complaint noted concern of the US over its solar panel manufacturers.
