The government will not accept any unreasonable bids for renewables like solar and wind and continue to conduct auctions via reverse bidding as it is transparent, Union Minister R K Singh said Tuesday.
The statement assumes significance as the renewable energy ministry has planned to auction 61 GW of renewables capacity in 2018-19 and 56 GW in 2019-20.
The capacities that will be auctioned include that of solar, wind, small hydro, bio-mass, floating solar, solar wind hybrid and offshore wind.
“We will accept bids which are reasonable. If we come across bids which we consider to be excessive, we will cancel them,” the renewable energy minister said at an event here.
About introduction of close bidding for the sector, the minister said:”We had commissioned a study. They have said the reverse bidding system would be totally transparent and good for the sector.”
Singh was speaking at a curtain raiser press conference of 2nd Global RE-INVEST.
Under the close bidding, the bidder cannot change its bids. The reverse auction gives chance to bidder to outbid their competitors which helps in discovering the best tariff for consumers.
About allegation of cartelisation against an MNC, Renewable Energy Secretary Anand Kumar said there is no such allegation. “We found certain bids to be unacceptable and we did not accept them because their prices were higher.”
The MNC was accused for jacking up price of solar power tariff.
On the success of RE-INVEST I organised in 2015, the minister said: “We have established a capacity of 37GW in last four years. We are going to expand. More investment will come. Now renewable energy capacity in the country is around 73GW.”
According to official data, investment was committed for 78 GW during RE-INVEST I, of which interest for 58 GW was evinced finally. In terms of value, Rs 3.92 lakh crore worth investment was committed out of which finance was sanctioned for Rs 1.79 lakh crore.
On reducing import dependence of solar equipment, the minister said India has manufacturing capacity of 3 GW for solar cells and 9 GW for modules.
“This is not sufficient for us. In order to establish manufacturing capacity here, we had floated an Expression of Interest for 10 GW. Under this, bidder can bid for setting up a capacity of 600 MW with 200 MW manufacturing capacity. Under this, 10GW would be generation capacity and 3GW manufacturing capacity,” he said.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is organising RE-INVEST II from October 2 -5, 2018 in New Delhi.
The conference aims at accelerating the worldwide effort to scale up renewable energy and connect the global investment community with Indian energy stakeholders.
The second edition of RE-INVEST is expected to be attended by ministerial delegations from across the world, including International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) member countries, among others.
Source: PTI