New Delhi: The government has invited bids for the development of offshore wind energy projects of a total capacity of 4 GW off the coast of Tamil Nadu. The bids invited are for four blocks of 1 GW each on an open access basis, for the development of offshore wind power projects off the coast of Tamil Nadu, through international competitive bidding.
Under this arrangement, the developers who win the bid for each block will set up 1 GW off-shore wind energy capacity and sell electricity directly to consumers under the open access regime. No Viability Gap Funding (VGF) is given under the open access bids, and the Renewable Energy generated will be sold to entities such as industries which are currently in the high-tariff band or to third parties (including on merchant basis) or to the power exchange. It may also be consumed in captive mode.
The advantages of offshore wind are many. It does away with constraints of availability of land; it has higher Capacity Utilisation Function (CUF) - approaching almost 50 percent. Further, the efficiencies of offshore wind turbines are higher than those of on-shore wind turbines; each turbine is of 15 MW.
The offshore wind energy bids have been invited through Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a Government of India undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The bids are being called after obtaining all necessary environmental clearances. The Notice Inviting Tender can be found here.
According to SECI, the scope of work includes survey and development activities for, and designing, building, financing, constructing, commissioning, operating, maintaining and decommissioning of offshore wind power projects off the coast of Tamil Nadu, through international competitive bidding.
The successful bidders will also be responsible for the development of the power transmission system to deliver the power at the offshore substation and grid connectivity and long-term access/ access to the grid.