Govt's first solar panel manufacturing tender draws zero response

The government’s first tender for 3Gw of solar panel manufacturing, along with 10Gw of power plant, has received no bids. The tender was first issued in May this year and extended several times owing to resistance from the industry over tender specifications.

Officials in the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) — the nodal agency for renewable project tenders said the deadline has been extended “at the request of the industry.” He further said that there is no case of failure of tender, as 15 days have been offered to the companies for submitting their bids.

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Sources said major players shied away from this bid, citing that there is no funding push from the Centre, which reduces the viability of solar manufacturing in the country. “Governments across the globe, including China, support solar manufacturing through subsidy. In India, there is market uncertainty due to high import coupled with high interest and capital cost,” said a sector executive.

The tender for setting up solar cell and module manufacturing plant — for an aggregate capacity of 5Gw linked with solar PV projects (for an aggregate capacity of 10Gw) in India on “build own operate” basis was issued in May 2018. Sources said SECI waited till 3 pm on Thursday for a bid, but decided to extend the deadline.

SECI uploaded a notice on its website at 6 pm, mentioning extension of the bidding. This comes in a week of the Indian government imposing safeguard duty of 25 per cent on import of solar panels, in order to help the domestic industry.

“SECI shall enter a power purchase agreement (PPA) with successful bidders, selected on the basis of Request for Selection (RFS) for purchase of solar power for 25 years. Power procured by SECI from the above projects has been provisioned to be sold to the different buying utilities of India. The details of buying utilities shall be intimated at a later date,” said the RFS issued by SECI in May.

The solar industry had expressed reservations over the tender, saying it doesn't favour existing players. The tender mentioned setting up a fresh line of manufacturing, which is unviable for existing players, unless a capital or interest subsidy is provided, said executives.

While the ministry of new & renewable energy had drafted a scheme to provide capital subsidy of up to 25 per cent to solar panel makers, the ministry of finance did not approve of it.

The next date for submission of the tender is October 12