Today, many developing countries are creating policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks to attract private investment in clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and expand electricity access. USAID works in partner countries across all aspects of the energy sector.

USAID and the Solar Energy Corporation of India Partner on Renewable Energy

After the successful bid of its 1.2 gigawatt (GW) time-block tender in January 2020, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) launched a bid of 5GW of round-the-clock power in March 2020 to address the issues of intermittency by reliably meeting power demand during morning and evening hours. These recent tenders mark a major transition toward system-friendly procurements of renewable energy in India that lower generation and integration costs. The SECI tenders incorporated several lessons and global best practices on system-friendly competitive bidding provided by USAID’s Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D 2.0 RE) program, including incorporating peak and off-peak tariffs, making the tender technology agnostic, considering renewable energy integration costs in the award decision according to location.

According to SECI Director of Power Systems S.K. Mishra, USAID’s presentation on system-friendly renewable energy procurements informed both round-the-clock power tenders.