The Centre is in the final stages of awarding 12,000 mega-watt (mw) of solar power generation contracts to the winners of the maiden manufacturing-link solar scheme, a senior government official said. Adani Green Energy will be awarded contracts to build 8,000 mw of solar generation capacity and Azure Power will develop 4,000 mw solar plants and the companies will sell electricity at a tariff of Rs 2.92/unit, Anand Kumar, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy, said on Friday. The scheme was introduced to boost domestic solar manufacturing, where developers would be provided with assured power purchase agreements (PPA) against the capacity of solar module manufacturing plant they set up in the country. Through the scheme, 3,000 mw of solar manufacturing units are seen to be set up by December 2021, resulting in 12,000 mw of new generating capacities by 2025.
“Half of the total generation capacity awarded will have to be built by 2022,” Kumar added. The government has set a target of having 175 giga-watt of renewable energy capacity by 2022. The current install capacity is 85.9 gw. About 88% of the products used in solar projects are imported.
Adani, under the scheme, will build equipment-manufacturing plants for 2,000 mw solar power. It currently has 1,200 mw of manufacturing capacity and is now the largest solar cell and module manufacturer in the country. Azure Power, which does not currently plan to enter the solar cell and module making business, has partnered with Waaree Energies for 500 MW of the manufacturing linked component of the tender. The firm has closed discussions with another manufacturer for other 500 mw.
The solar generation projects linked to the scheme can be developed anywhere in India and PPA allows for the waiver of inter-state transmission charges.