SECI Schedules Meeting With Prospective Bidders for 1200 MW RE Tender

SECI will conduct a technical meeting with prospective bidders for its tender for setting up of 1200 MW RE projects with assured 6-hour peak power supply.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has notified that it will conduct a technical meeting/ session with prospective bidders for its tender for setting up of 1200 MW renewable energy (RE) projects with assured 6-hour peak power supply.

The meeting will be held at the SECI office in Saket, New Delhi on November 11, 2019.

The nodal agency had issued the tender for 1200 MW ISTS-connected RE projects with assured peak power supply in India (ISTS-VII), in August. As per the tender, the scope of work for the selected bidders includes the design, supply, engineering, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning of renewable energy projects. Additionally, land, connectivity and long term open access will also be in the scope of the hybrid power developer.

SECI had noted while issuing the tender that at present, the total RE capacity installed in the country is over 80 GW, with wind projects constituting over 36 GW and installed solar projects capacity touching 28 GW. However, in spite of RE power ranked second in terms of total installed capacity in India, owing to their intermittent and infirm resource-centric nature, renewables have not been able to replace conventional power to fulfil peak load demand of Discoms.

Further, increased electrification and reduced load shedding by Discoms have resulted in a steep increase in the peak energy demand, which is currently met by the Discoms at significantly higher costs. The above scenario thus indicates RE power to be flexible and firm in nature to become a prime resource to bridge this demand-supply gap. And in view of the above, SECI had to invited proposals for setting up the RE projects anywhere in India on “Build Own Operate” (B-O-O) basis, along with assured Peak Power supply.

Additionally, the tender mandates that the project installation shall also be augmented with energy storage systems with a minimum rated capacity of the ESS being equal to the contracted capacity of the project as per PPA, in order to meet the above criteria of supply of power during the Peak Hours.

The power procured by SECI from the above projects has been provisioned to be sold to the different buying Utilities of India.

Projects selected under this RfS shall be eligible for two-part tariffs. These shall be referred to as “Peak Tariff” and “Off-Peak Tariff” as defined in the RfS. Energy generated during the Off-Peak Hours shall be eligible for a flat tariff payment @ Rs. 2.70/kWh, i.e. the Off-Peak Tariff. Energy generated during the Peak Hours shall be purchased at the tariff discovered through e-Reverse Auction as per this RfS, i.e. the Peak tariff.