Indian utility NTPC has announced plans to invest about $3 billion in the development of a 5 GW solar park, to be spread across two to three sites in the Indian state of Gujarat. In a separate announcement, the company started accepting bids to build 1.2 GW of grid-connected PV capacity across the country.

Gurdeep Singh, chairman and managing director of NTPC, said that the company – formerly known as National Thermal Power Corp. Ltd. – was looking at potentially setting up another massive solar park in Rajasthan. As part of the Gujarat plan, the utility will also invite other solar developers to invest.

In a separate announcement, NTPC launched a global bidding process to build 1.2 GW of grid-connected solar capacity throughout India. The plants – to be connected to the Inter-State Transmission System – will be developed on a build-own-operate basis, with plots of land to be identified and arranged by the selected solar developers.

The projects will be awarded through international competitive bidding, with the tariff ceiling set at INR 2.65/kWh. This will be followed by a reverse auction. Bidding closes on Sept. 2.

Single developers can bid for any project from 50 MW to 600 MW, at a single tariff quoted for the entire bid capacity. Projects can be offered at multiple locations, with minimum project sizes of 50 MW, rising in multiples of 10 MW thereafter.

（From PV Magazine）