To advance its clean energy goals, the government has proposed leasing seabed areas off the Tamil Nadu coast in the Gulf of Mannar to build 4,000 MW offshore wind projects on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), established by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under the National Solar Mission, has floated tenders for four projects with a capacity of 1 GW through international competitive bidding. Each block will be allocated a tentative minimum installable offshore wind capacity.
The successful bidder will have exclusive rights to the allocated seabed to conduct the required studies, surveys and subsequent project development. Under this arrangement, developers who win bids for each block will build 1 GW of offshore wind capacity and can sell power directly to consumers under an open access system. However, commissioning of the first projects could still take several years and require all necessary environmental permits to be obtained.
According to the request for selection (RfS) document, there is no obligation for MNRE or any other government agency to purchase any power generated by the project. There will be no Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under the open access bid. The government announced in the recent medium-term budget its intention to harness the potential of offshore wind to achieve VGF, with an initial capacity of 1 GW.
A few days ago, the government announced a rooftop solar scheme for 10 million households across the country. The latest clean energy push is part of the government’s goal to achieve about 50% of cumulative electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. The government will drive a clean energy push by tendering 50 gigawatts of renewable energy (RE) capacity annually over the next five years. Of the 500 GW, 280 GW will be met by solar and 140 GW by wind.
Despite having a coastline of 7,600 kilometers, India currently does not have any offshore wind projects. The National Offshore Wind Policy was announced in 2015, but the latest push came in December last year, when the Ministry of Power announced the long-awaited offshore wind leasing rules to regulate the allocation of offshore wind blocks. to developers.
Recently, India’s largest hydropower company, National Hydropower Corporation (NHPC) Ltd, also issued expressions of interest (EoI) to global players to develop the country’s first offshore wind power plant. According to preliminary assessments, eight potential areas identified in India along the coasts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are estimated to have around 70 GW of offshore wind energy potential.
Digital copies of bids can be submitted by May 2, and paper bids by May 6. The bid opening date is set for May 7.
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