By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 21, 2018: Odisha belated has enthused interest of private players to set up solar power plants in the state.

Officials said, renewable majors – Mahindra Susten, Azure Power and Hero Future Energies are among the five leading players which have proposed to install solar plants of 100 MW capacity each in the state.

Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (GRIDCO) recently had floated a tender for setting up 200 MW solar power plant. The technical bids recently invited by Gridco were oversubscribed as against the 200 Mw tender, the power trader got offers for 845 Mw from 14 bidders, a Gridco official said.

Since the major players have evinced interest, Gridco is likely to increase solar capacity under the green shoe option. The installed solar power capacity in Odisha is 93 Mw but the state sources about 75 Mw from outside.

The latest tariff rate in Odisha for solar is Rs 4.5 per unit and the tariff is on the higher side compared with states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. However, the Odisha government expects it to fall after the renewed interest by power majors at competitive auctions.

Gridco will enter into a power-purchase agreement (PPA) with the successful bidder for 25 years from the date of commercial operations.

Earlier, the public sector power majors, NTPC, NLC Ltd, North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) and SJVN, a mini-ratna PSU, had evinced interest in participating in the state’s solar park programme.

Odisha recently cleared a plan by NEEPCO to invest close to Rs 1000 crore to set up a 200-Mw solar power plant. The unit is scheduled to start operations in December 2019. It has also provided in-principle clearance for 250 MW solar power project proposed by NLC at the cost of Rs 4.5 crore per MW.

The state’s Renewable Energy Policy 2016 target 2200 MW green power by 2022 for which Odisha requires an investment of Rs 13,500 crore. To achieve this, the state government plans to develop a mega solar park of 1000 Mw under a scheme approved by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) on the public private partnership (PPP) mode.