India to Tender 1 GW of Solar Rooftop Capacity in December
India is preparing to auction a gigawatt of rooftop solar
capacity as it strives to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of
generating 100 GW of power from the sun by 2022.
The tender will be ready this month,
according to Solar Energy Corp. of India, the agency responsible for
implementing clean energy targets. It aims to accelerate panel installations on
government buildings.
"The tender will entail target-based
incentives, which will be released step-wise as a project developer meets
completion timelines not in one go," SECI General Manager Sanjay Sharma
said in a phone interview.
This month’s auction follows a 500-MW
tender completed at the end of November. Unlike that sale, which aimed to
accelerate panel installations on homes, schools hospitals, the bidders who win
subsidies to install panels on government buildings won’t get full payments up
front.
The 500-MW auction in November awarded
432.7 MW to 122 developers, according to Sharma. Subsidized tariffs in the
state of Himachal Pradesh touched 3 rupees (US$0.4) a kilowatt-hour, according
to Sharma, who said the results couldn’t be compared to utility-scale projects
because of the aid.
India’s installed rooftop solar capacity
now exceeds 1 GW after growing by 513 MW in the last year, solar researcher
Bridge to India reported in October. Rooftop solar costs have fallen 12 percent
annually in the last four years.
India aims 40 GW of its solar targets to be
fulfilled from rooftop installations.
