CSP Today’s recent article, ‘India bridging the CSP gap with two projects’, with contributions from Dr Ashvini Kumar, Director, Solar Energy Corporation India (SECI) revealed two 50MW pilot projects will soon be open for expressions of interest for both international and local EPC contractors.

As the CSP industry in India anticipates the launch of the second phase of the National Solar Mission (NSM) after an almost five year wait since the Phase I allocations, Dr Kumar, Director, SECI, recently told CSP Today that setting up pilot projects as a bridge between Phase I and Phase II of the NSM are “one of the windows envisaged to achieve the basic aim of the mission”. He went on to say that SECI will be taking on the role of owner and developer for the projects and so tenders would be opening only for EPC contracts to bid.

There are critical lessons to be learnt from the NSM Phase I, such as a better understanding of the DNI levels, which is why these two pilot projects are key to the successful deployment of large scale CSP in India in Phase II of the NSM. Evidently, SECI are taking these into consideration with support from international CSP experts from Asian Development Bank, Tractebel Engineering in an attempt to maintain international standards and best practice for the implementation of the two pilot projects.

 As a result, the announcement of the two pilot projects is attracting attention from both local and international CSP companies. Dr Kumar revealed to CSP Today that “the development of the project is at an advanced stage and various approvals are in process”. Both of the projects will have to be developed by 2017, allowing contractors three years for construction and Dr Kumar explained that “tenders for these projects are likely in a couple of months”. 

Javier Lopez Carvajal, Renewable Energy Product Manager at Tractebel Engineering, which is helping SECI and Asian Development Bank develop the project tenders, advises EPCs interested in bidding that they “mainly need to demonstrate that they can build with competitive prices and higher efficiency”. 

Some of the other key highlights in the article include insight on the delivery method of the project from Antonio Lopez, Energy Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, who are investing US$250million as debt under sovereign guarantee from the Government of India.

Ashvini Kumar, Director, Solar Energy Corporation India and Antonio Lopez, energy Specialist, Asian Development Bank will be participating as key speakers at the INDIASOL 2014 conference (October, New Delhi) alongside the MNRE and key solar investors such as IFC, EIB and World Bank.

For more information about the article and to learn more about the INDIASOL event, please contact Sarah Kingham at sarah@csptoday.com