India to Hold Bid Rounds for 12 GW of Offshore Wind Over Three Years

India is looking to hold bid rounds for 12 GW of offshore wind in the next three years, the Government's Press Information Bureau said Thursday.

This year, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy will issue the first bid in the next three-four months for leasing out offshore wind energy blocks equivalent to 4.0 GW capacity off the coast of Tamil Nadu.

The plan is to have bids equivalent to a project capacity of 4.0 GW per year for a period of three years starting with the current FY 22-23 for development off the coast of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat for sale of power through open access / captive / bi-lateral third party sale / merchant sale.

Subsequently, a project capacity of 5 GW will be bid out every year for a period of five years i.e. up till FY 29-30.

"The project capacity of 8 GW bid out in the first two years beginning FY 22-23 will also be able to avail of the benefits of green attributes like carbon credits," the government said.

According to the government, the bidding for the first 12 GW will be conducted on a single stage two envelope model wherein the bidders will be evaluated based on their techno-commercial capabilities, and only the technically qualified bidders will proceed to financial evaluation. 

The financial evaluation will be based on quoted lease fee per sq km of sea bed area. The bidder offering the highest lease fee per sq km of sea bed area would be declared as the winner for the allocation of the project.

Evacuation and transmission of power from offshore pooling Substation (PSS) to onshore transmission will be provided free of cost for all offshore wind capacities that will be bid out up to FY 29-30, the government said.

World Bank last year issued a graph that showed that India had the technical potential to develop around 174 GW of offshore wind, of which 91 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind farms and 83 GW of floating wind farms.

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