Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — India announced draft rules to
auction 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity in Andhra Pradesh as
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accelerates clean-energy
deployment.
Companies will be invited shortly to bid for contracts to
build plants at a solar park in the southern state, according to
the rules issued today by the Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy. A quarter of the capacity will be required to use
locally made panels and cells.
The rules also outline a broader plan to boost India’s
clean-energy targets and shift responsibility for implementing
capacity away from states to the central government. By 2019,
the central government expects to install 15,000 megawatts, more
the five times the current national capacity and about triple
what it committed to in 2012.
Companies will be able to bid for as much as 250 megawatts
of capacity with each project capped at 50 megawatts, according
to the rules. State-run power trader NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam
Ltd., known as NVVN, will run the auction and sign 25-year power
purchase agreements with the winners.
The solar park will be run by a state-run venture between
the Solar Energy Corp. of India, New & Renewable Energy
Development Corp. of Andhra Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh Power
Generation Corp., which will ensure roads, water and power
substations are built to support the projects.
The draft sets a timeline for building 3,000 megawatts by
2017, 5,000 megawatts by 2018 and 7,000 megawatts by 2019.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Natalie Obiko Pearson in New Delhi at
npearson7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Indranil Ghosh, Dylan Griffiths