The Centre received around 18 bids of nearly 40 gigawatt (GW) under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for solar photovoltaic module manufacturing from several undisclosed companies till September 19, a report said.

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This is nearly four times the 10 GW tender. The development comes more than three months after the Centre invited bids to set up solar manufacturing units as part of its PLI scheme.

Senior government officials told Economic Times that large conglomerates like Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Adani Solar are likely to bid for contracts under the 5-year PLI scheme. The bidders need to quote the PLI requirement for each of the five years post-commissioning.

"We can accommodate a maximum of 10 GW. Many players are committing to set up a fully integrated plant from polysilicon to module against our expectations of beginning with wafers to modules," an official privy to the development told ET.

The official added that large companies are "evincing interest and are expected to commit end-to-end solar manufacturing". None of these companies, however, have commented on their alleged bids.

The bids are now scheduled to open on Tuesday.

In April this year, the Union Cabinet had approved the PLI scheme with an outlay of Rs 4,500 crore for manufacturing a high-efficiency solar photovoltaic module. The scheme aims to add 10,000 MW manufacturing capacity with integrated solar photovoltaic modules. This would entail a direct investment of Rs 17,200 crore.

Subsequently, in June, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), which has been appointed as the implementing agency for the scheme, invited bids to set up solar manufacturing units.

The PLI scheme to boost domestic manufacturing of solar photovoltaic modules is expected to directly generate 30,000 jobs and around 1.2 lakh jobs indirectly.

The government had announced that the manufacturers for the scheme will be selected through a transparent competitive bidding process. The bidders will be selected based on three parameters — the extent of integration, proposed manufacturing capacity, and the performance efficiency of modules.

Disclosure: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)

First Published:Sept 22, 2021 2:50 PM IST