Karnataka tenders 860MW of dispersed solar

Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) has issued a request for proposal (RfP) for 860MW of solar, split between 43 taluks with 20MW in each.

Karnataka has previously invited bids for a dispersed 1.2GW of solar, also for projects of up to 20MW, but it was claimed that this lowered the transparency of the tender process for developers. The industry will be happy to see a new major tender given the recent lull in tendering activity and the resulting overly aggressive competition.

Back in January, Karnataka increased its solar target from 2GW to 6GW, to bring its goals in line with those of the central government. It also capped project sizes at 100MW in a single location, and capped overall capacities in each taluk at 200MW. The limitations of project capacity in each taluk were seen as a policy of properly balancing power to avoid curtailment risk from high concentrations of power in one location.