Govt Releases New Bidding Norms For Solar Projects

2 GW Ai Dhafra Solar PV Plant

The Ministry of Power has released new guidelines for bidding of grid-connected solar projects in the country. This comes days after the ministry released a similar document on the bidding format for medium and large wind projects.

The new bidding document aims to bring uniformity in solar bids, clearly defining timeline of the projects, Power Procurement Agreement (PPA) timelines and milestones of such projects. This also talks about mentioning of penalties for delay in such projects in addition to touching upon many other topics.

These guidelines are mandates for solar power projects with or without energy storage, where the bids are allocated through competitive bidding for long term procurement of solar power by the developers. The ministry guidelines said that the Request for Selection (RfS) document must define the milestones of the project and the associated penalties in case of defiance.

“The RfS may specify additional milestones for the project with respect to land acquisition, connectivity etc as well as regular reporting requirements by the Generator and shall specify penalties with respect to non-compliance with such milestones/requirements,” the document said.

The norms said that the procurer must issue the bid in Megawatt (MW) capacity whereas the minimum quantum of the capacity should be 50 MW for Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) projects. It also mandated that one bidder could be allocated a maximum of 50 percent of the total issued capacity. It also said that the ideal period for any PPA should be 20 years.

“The PPA period shall generally be for a period of 20 (twenty) years from the Scheduled Commencement-of-Supply Date (SCSD) or from the rescheduled date of commencement of supply to the extent of extension given by the Procurer on the grounds which are beyond control of the Generator. The PPA may, however, also be fixed for a longer period such as 25 (twenty-five) years,” the norms read.

It also said that the developers who are constructing their projects or already commissioned solar projects could also apply. “Developers who have already commissioned Solar PV plants or are in process of constructing such plants and have untied capacity may also participate in the bid. In such case, they may be given the benefit of a longer period of PPA, commensurate to the duration between the actual date of commencement of supply of power and SCSD,” the document read.

The new norms also said that the developer should commence power supply within a period of 24 months from the date of execution of the PPA where the quantum allotted to the developer is not more than 1000 MW. On the other hand, for projects more than 1000 MW, the developers need to commence power supply 30 months from the date of execution of the PPA.

The new bidding documents came weeks after the Union Power Minister RK Singh at the sidelines of G20 meeting in Goa had said that the ministry was working to bring changes in the bidding documents to expedite the growth of renewable energy in the country and to meet its bidding trajectory targets.