MoP Amends Guidelines for Procurement of RTC Renewable Power

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has issued amendments to guidelines for the procurement of RTC power from renewable projects, complemented with other sources.

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has issued, in a Gazette Notification, amendments to guidelines for the tariff-based competitive bidding process for procurement of Round-The Clock (RTC) power from grid-connected renewable energy power projects, complemented with power from coal-based thermal power projects.

The keys change that has been made to the guidelines is the formal introduction of “power from any other source or storage” into the guidelines to replace the unidirectional approach of bundling renewable energy with only thermal power.

With that change, the guidelines have thus been renamed to “guidelines for the tariff-based competitive bidding process for procurement of Round-The Clock power from grid-connected renewable energy power projects, complemented with power from any other source or storage.”

The notification also adds that under the key objective of the scheme for RTC renewable power i.e. the developments in the renewable energy sector and the necessity to address the issues of intermittency, limited hours of supply and low capacity utilisation of transmission infrastructure presents a case for – bundling, wherein firm power from any other source or storage is bundled with renewable energy and provided round-the-clock to the distribution company (Discom).

In other words, firm power from thermal/ hydro or other sources or storage can be utilised to balance renewable energy and provide round the clock (RTC) power to the Discom thereby obviating the need for Discoms to balance power.

Another key amendment is the shift from composite tariff to weighted average levelised tariff as the bidding parameter. It has been decided that the bidding evaluation parameter shall be the weighted average levelised tariff per unit supply of RTC power. The Procurer shall invite bids wherein the bidder shall quote the first year weighted average levelised Tariff in Rs/kWh. The quoted tariff shall comprise of four-part – Fixed component [RE power (fixed), non-RE power (fixed)] and Variable component [Non -RE power (escalable for fuel), and non-RE power (escalable for transportation)]. The Fixed component of the tariff of the RE power and Non RE power shall be quoted for each year of the term of PPA. The variable component of the Non RE power shall be quoted as on the scheduled date of commissioning. The levelised tariff shall be arrived at using the CERC escalation indices for the type of fuel quoted by the bidder and the discount factor to be specified in the bidding document. The bidder shall also quote the proportion of energy from RE sources and non-RE source that they wish to supply. The weighted average levelised tariff per unit supply shall be arrived at for the term of PPA and the proportion of energy from RE sources and Non RE source.

The bidder shall be selected on the basis of the least quoted ‘weighted average levelised tariff’. The bidder (called the L1 bidder) quoting the least weighted average levelised Tariff (called the L1 tariff) shall be allocated the quantum of power offered by him. If the allocated quantum of power is less than the total quantum of power to be contracted, the remaining qualified bidders will be asked to match their tariff with the L1 tariff. The originally lowest bidder that agrees to match the L1 tariff shall be allocated the remaining quantum or the quantum offered by it, whichever is lower. If still some quantum is left, it will be allocated to the next originally lowest bidder and so on.

For more information and the full list of amendments click here.