India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a public notice for the tender for the allocation of offshore wind development areas off the coast of the Tamil Nadu region, with 7,215 MW of capacity in the mix.
The country issued the call for seven locations off the Tamil Nadu region in the south of the country, with the proposed zones covering an area of 1,443 square kilometres, capable of supporting more than 7 GW of capacity.
The notice outlines four areas, namely 2, 3, 4, and 7, set to be opened for bids early next year, with a total capacity of 4,140 MW to be offered to the developers.
An additional 3,075 MW of capacity spread across three sites is planned to be put on offer in 2025.
The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) was appointed by MNRE to conduct the bidding process.
The bid will be on the basis of a single-stage two envelope wherein the first envelope will be the techno-commercial bid and the second envelope will be the financial bid.
The leasing of the seabed area to the developer will initially be for a period of five years, with the option of an additional year.
The developer will be responsible for conducting site surveys, building, and commissioning the project within the abovementioned time period.
Post-commissioning, the project lease will be extended for the operational life of the development.
On 17 August, MNRE, the ministry responsible for offshore wind development in India, released a new strategy that details the areas to be awarded and also proposes auction models to allocate sites for the development and construction of offshore wind projects.
The zones and sites identified by MNRE and NIWE are estimated to have the potential to house a total of around 14 GW of installed offshore wind capacity, with a further 22 GW estimated to be available to be tapped into through unsolicited lease requests.
MNRE and NIWE have zoomed in on the areas offshore Tamil Nadu and identified 14 sites where offshore wind farms would be built, with 13 of the sites to be auctioned under one allocation model and the one remaining site under another.