Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a diversified company which is emerging as an upcoming solar PV developer in the Indian market, has won a contract to develop India’s first large-scale floating solar PV plant auctioned through Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). This is a 50 MW plant which is part of 150 MW of floating solar power plants planned at Rihand Dam, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. The plants were tendered by SECI in March 2018.

The company won the project through the reverse auction mechanism by quoting a tariff of $0.046/kWh. As per the contract, the company will be selling power to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) for a period of 25 years. The plant has been contracted on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis with the transfer of ownership to Uttar Pradesh Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UPJVNL) after completion of entire Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) period. The price discovered at the reverse auction for floating solar PV plant is 10% higher than the ground-mounted projects in Uttar Pradesh. SECI had fixed a price of $0.047/kWh as the upper ceiling for the tender.

Many solar developers in India are facing problems related to connectivity and transmission of the power produced by them since the projects are generally set up in rural areas where grid infrastructure is not in place. The Rihand floating solar PV projects will not have such issues since it can use the same transmission line as that of the hydropower station. The entire project of 150 MW has been divided into three packages namely A, B and C with Shapoorji Pallonji bagging the contract under package-B. As per package-B, the company will have to get the required transmission line constructed by Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited (UPPTCL) on a depository work basis. The connectivity of the line will be at Bina substation.