The Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) has invited bids for 10 MW of grid-connected solar-wind hybrid power projects at Ramagiri, located in Anantipuramu district of Andhra Pradesh.

The PPA will be signed for 25 years with APGENCO, and the projects will be developed on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis. The last date for the submission of bids has been set for July 4, 2019.

The earnest money deposit (EMD) has been kept at ₹10 million ($1.43 million), with a pre-bid meeting to be held on June 18, 2019. An interested bidder should have executed and operated solar, and wind projects of at least 10 MW and the projects should be in successful operation for at least 12 months at the time of bid submission.

The net worth of the bidder should be equal to or greater than ₹100 million (~$1.4 million) per MW of the project capacity on the last date of the financial year 2018-19. The calculation of net worth should be based on unconsolidated audited annual accounts of the bidder. The bidder must have a minimum annual turnover of ₹500 million (~$7.4 million) during the previous financial year 2018-19.

The tender document states that a foreign company can also participate on a standalone basis or as a member of a consortium. In case of a foreign company participating on a standalone basis and its selection as the successful bidder, it must form an Indian company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 as its fully owned subsidiary company before awarding of the contract by APGENCO.

The tender document states that the hybrid power project should be designed for interconnection with the nearest pooling substation. It adds that the responsibility of successful bidder ends with the construction of a switchyard at the project boundary for the evacuation of power at 33 KV voltage level, while APGENCO will arrange the evacuation of power from project switchyard to the substation.

The entire cost of transmission from the project up to the switchyard along with all the wheeling charges, losses would be borne by the bidder.

The cost of development of infrastructure such as roads, water system, internal evacuation system will also be borne by the bidder.

The tender document underlines that the aggregate capacity utilization factor (CUF) of the hybrid wind-solar project selected through this tender, should not be less than 22% in the first year. The bidder should indicate the yearly degradation factor and other estimations along with the bid. It also states that the bidders will have to submit bids quoting a fixed levelized tariff for the entire project duration of 25 years.

The successful bidder must attain the financial closure for the project within six months from the date of signing of the award of contract.

Recently, Andhra Pradesh was in the news when the state’s new chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said that his government would review all the PPAs, especially wind and, solar, signed by the previous government led by N Chandrababu Naidu, alleging corruption. Later, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has written a letter to the chief secretary of the government of Andhra Pradesh LV Subramanyam, expressing its serious concerns over the state’s impending decision to revisit the power purchase agreements (PPAs) it has signed with solar and wind developers.

Recently, Andhra Pradesh DISCOMs filed a petition with the APERC seeking relief in the terms and conditions for tariff determination for wind power projects in the state between FY 2015-16 and FY 2019-20. The petition also sought revision in the PPA for wind power projects and the tariff fixed by APERC in its orders dated December 13, 2019.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Andhra Pradesh has installed solar PV capacity of ~2.75 GW and a project pipeline of 1.9 GW.