Govt invites bids for solar PV manufacturing under PLI scheme

The government has floated a proposal inviting bids worth ₹19,500 crore from solar PV module manufacturers (SMM) for setting up manufacturing capacities for high efficiency modules under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has floated the request for selection (RFS) document inviting bids under the second tranche of the PLI scheme with a corpus of ₹19,500 crore. The aim is to create a Giga Watt (GW) scale manufacturing capacity for high efficiency solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.

The last date for submitting bids is January 11, 2023, and the bids will be opened the next day.

In September 2022, Cabinet approved the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) proposal for implementing the second tranche of the PLI scheme. Government expects it to lead to an installed manufacturing capacity of about 65,000 megawatt (MW) per annum of fully and partially integrated solar PV modules and direct investment of around ₹94,000 crore.

The first tranche of PLI was for a corpus of ₹4,500 crore with bids for around 55 GW of PV manufacturing capacity being received.

The total domestic capacity for manufacturing solar modules is about 20 GW, of which about 13.3 GW has been enlisted in the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM). The capacity for manufacturing solar cells is around 4 GW.

PLI Tranche II
Under the second tranche of PLI, the SMM are required to set up manufacturing capacities in GW-scale for high efficiency solar PV modules. The capacities will be allocated in three separate categories based on the fund allocation for each category.

The government has allocated ₹12,000 crore for the P+W+C+M category, which is Stage-1: manufacturing of polysilicon; Stage-2: manufacturing of ingots & wafers; Stage-3: manufacturing of solar cells and Stage-4: manufacturing of modules. The project will have to be commissioned within 3 years from the date of the Letter of Award (LoA).

Similarly, ₹4,500 crore is being allocated for W+C+M — Stage-2: manufacturing of ingots & wafers; Stage-3: manufacturing of solar cells and Stage-4: manufacturing of modules. In this category, a successful bidder will have to complete the project within two years of the LoA signing. Another ₹3,000 crore is for the C+M category, which is Stage-3: manufacturing of solar cells + Stage-4: manufacturing of modules with project to be completed within 1.5 years of the signing of LoA.

A bidder, including its parent, affiliate or ultimate parent or any group company can submit a single bid undertaking to set up a manufacturing facility of minimum 1,000 megawatt capacity (1,000 MW each for all individual stages included in the SMM’s proposal).

The maximum capacity that a bidder can bid for under the RFS, is 10 GW for P+W+C+M and 6 GW each for W+C+M and C+M categories.

“However, the maximum capacity that will be awarded to a single bidder under the PLI scheme — the maximum capacity which will be eligible for grant of PLI — will be 50 per cent of the capacity to be set up by the bidder,” the proposal said. Saur Energy