India to Tender 1 GW of Solar Rooftop Capacity in December - SolarStar

India  is preparing to auction a gigawatt of rooftop solar capacity as it strives to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of generating 100 GW of power from the sun by 2022.

The tender will be ready this month, according to Solar Energy Corp. of India, the agency responsible for implementing clean energy targets. It aims to accelerate panel installations on government buildings.

"The tender will entail target-based incentives, which will be released step-wise as a project developer meets completion timelines not in one go," SECI General Manager Sanjay Sharma said in a phone interview.

This month’s auction follows a 500-MW tender completed at the end of November. Unlike that sale, which aimed to accelerate panel installations on homes, schools hospitals, the bidders who win subsidies to install panels on government buildings won’t get full payments up front.

The 500-MW auction in November awarded 432.7 MW to 122 developers, according to Sharma. Subsidized tariffs in the state of Himachal Pradesh touched 3 rupees (US$0.4) a kilowatt-hour, according to Sharma, who said the results couldn’t be compared to utility-scale projects because of the aid.

India’s installed rooftop solar capacity now exceeds 1 GW after growing by 513 MW in the last year, solar researcher Bridge to India reported in October. Rooftop solar costs have fallen 12 percent annually in the last four years.

India aims 40 GW of its solar targets to be fulfilled from rooftop installations.