The Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MAHAGENCO) has awarded solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totaling 250 MW under agricultural (AG) feeder program.

The winning bidders are Azure Power and Shapoorji & Pallonji, a MAHAGENCO official confirmed to Mercom. “The auction was completed a month ago, and we have issued the letter of award now. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) will take one more month,” he added.

Azure Power has won the bid to develop 200 MW of solar PV projects for supplying power to AG feeders across the state of Maharashtra. Azure Power will enter a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with MAHAGENCO at a tariff of ₹3.07 (~$0.045)/kWh. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2019.

Moreover, Shapoorji & Pallonji has won bid to develop 50 MW of solar PV projects for supplying to AG feeders across the state. “Shapoorji & Pallonji will enter 25-year PPA with MAHAGENCO at a tariff of ₹3.26 (~$0.0478)/kWh,” stated the MAHAGENCO official when contacted.

The MAHAGENCO official further said, “Another 100 MW will be awarded soon, out of which 50 MW may go to Azure and 50 MW may go to Shapoorji & Pallonji. It all depends on the meeting that is due. We (MAHAGENCO) have asked the developers to reconsider their tariffs for these capacities.”

When asked to elaborate on the reconsideration of tariffs, the MHAGAENCO official said, “Reconsideration of tariff in this case does not mean that the MHAGENCO is asking developers to match the tariffs they have quoted for previous capacities. Each 50 MW capacity will have projects ranging from 2 MW to 10 MW, so we have asked developers to arrive at a price considering all the various options that depend on region to region.”

“Other than that, the MAHAGENCO is providing free land to the developers for these projects; we (MAHAGENCO) have received the land from state government without cost so we are providing it to developers at no cost,” added the MAHAGENCO official.

When asked whether this will be considered as public private partnership (PPP) model, the MAHAGENCO official said, “No, we have just arranged free land for them, we haven’t invested in equity so there is no question of these projects coming under PPP model.

Mercom previously reported about MAHAGENCO’s plans to solarize Maharashtra’s agricultural feeders by constructing 1,500 MW of solar project capacity, with capacity at each individual project expected to range from a minimum of 2 MW to a maximum of 50 MW.

In December 2017, MAHAGENCO issued three separate tenders for a total of 300 MW of grid-connected solar capacity to supply power to agricultural feeders. Then in March 2018, MAHAGENCO tendered 50 MW of grid-connected solar projects to be developed in the northern region of the state. The projects will also cater to the AG feeder load of various substations in Maharashtra.

Image credit: GIPL Solar