Part Commissioning of ISTS Solar Projects Gets Green Signal from MNRE

Solar projects connected to interstate transmission (ISTS) in lots of 10 MW or more have recently received approval from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for partial commissioning. The choice was made to speed up the commissioning of solar power projects and to follow the lead of such assistance already given to wind power projects. Up until March 31, 2023, the unique exception will be in effect.

The request has been examined and it has been decided that to facilitate expeditious commissioning of solar PV power projects and in line with similar facilitation already provided to wind power projects under all SECI tranches, notwithstanding the provisions of the ‘Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV Power Projects’ ISTS connected solar PV Power projects bid out as per the ‘Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV Power Projects’ may be allowed to part-commission in steps of 10 MW or more, subject to the maximum number of part commissioning per project being limited to the number derived as per the following formula:

[{Project capacity (AC) (in MW) as per PPA} / {50 MW} x 1.2] rounded off to the next higher whole number.

For Example

To illustrate, if the Project capacity is 200 MW (AC), the total number of part commissioning would be 200/50 *1.2= 4.8. Therefore, the maximum number of part commissioning would be 5.

For more details like documents and technical specifications here.

Recently, Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) invited a request for selection (RfS) for the supply of 2250 MW of round-the-clock (RTC) power from ISTS-Connected renewable energy power projects, complemented with Power from any other source or storage in India under tariff-based competitive bidding (RTC-III). 

Aditionally, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (NLC) India invited bids for the setting up of a 500 MW ISTS-connected Solar Power Project on a pan-India basis.