Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) has invited bids to procure 250 MW of flexible and schedulable power from grid-connected renewable energy projects with an energy storage facility on a long-term basis with a greenshoe option.

The last date to submit the bids online is September 12, 2022.

Bidders must submit a non-refundable processing fee of ₹300,000 (~$3,777) plus 18% goods and services tax (GST). They will also have to pay ₹885,000 (~$11,121)/MW as an earnest money deposit.

The successful bidder will have to furnish ₹3.54 million (~$44,487)/MW as a performance bank guarantee within 30 days from the issuance of the letter of award.

The projects selected under this request for selection (RfS) will be eligible for two-part tariffs. These will be referred to as ‘non-solar generation hours tariff’ and ‘solar generation hours tariff.’ The energy supplied during the solar generation hours will be eligible for a tariff payment at ₹2.42 (~$0.030)/kWh. The energy supplied during the non-solar generation hours will be purchased at the tariff discovered through an e-reverse auction. The applicable tariff under the power purchase agreement (PPA) will comprise both solar generation hours and non-solar generation hours tariffs. It will be fixed for the entire term of the PPA.

The minimum capacity to be quoted will be 50 MW, and the maximum bid capacity that can be quoted is 250 MW.

MSEDCL will exercise the greenshoe option to allocate additional capacity up to 250 MW to the successful bidder if the discovered tariff is found economical to MSEDCL.

Only commercially established and operational technologies can be used to minimize the technology risk and achieve timely project commissioning.

To ensure only quality systems are installed, the type-certified wind turbine models listed in the Revised List of Models and Manufacturers (RLMM) issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will be allowed for deployment.

Bidders can choose the type and power rating of the energy storage system to be installed in addition to the solar, wind, or hydropower capacity. The energy storage facility may include a battery energy storage system (BESS), pumped storage system, mechanical and chemical systems, or combinations thereof.

The project can be installed in multiple blocks and connected to the grid. In this case, each block should be at least 50 MW. The project can be located anywhere in India. The project’s energy generation component and energy storage component may be multi-located and inject power through multiple Interconnection points.

The net worth of the bidders as of the last date of the previous financial year should be at least ₹15 million (~$188,507)/MW for the bid capacity.

Their minimum annual turnover should be ₹10.2 million (~$128,184)/MW of the quoted capacity during the last financial year. Bidders should have an internal resource generation capability in the form of profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes (PBDIT) of at least ₹2 million (~$25,134)/MW of the quoted capacity as of the last date of the previous financial year.

Bidders should also have an in-principle approval letter from the lending institutions committing a line of credit for a minimum amount of ₹2.5 million (~$31,417)/MW of the quoted capacity toward meeting the working capital requirement of the project.

The responsibility of getting the interstate transmission system (ISTS) connectivity will be entirely of the renewable project developer and will be at the developer’s cost. The transmission of power up to and including at the interconnection point and energy accounting infrastructure will be the responsibility of the renewable project developer at its own cost.

Recently, MSEDCL invited bids to procure power from 500 MW inter or intrastate grid-connected solar power projects through long-term contracts.

Earlier, MSEDCL had invited bids to procure power from 500 MW of intrastate grid-connected solar power projects (Phase-VII) on a long-term basis.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, MSEDCL has floated tenders for 19.8 GW of solar power projects.