The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) has approved the procurement of 600 MW of solar power (Tranche VIII) by the state distribution companies (DISCOMs) from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 25 years at a tariff of ₹2.50 (~$0.031)/kWh and a trading margin of ₹0.07 (~$0.0008)/kWh.

It also approved the draft power sale agreement (PSA) subject to approval by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Bihar State Power Holding Company (BSPHCL), on behalf of the state DISCOMs, had filed a petition seeking approval for the procurement of 600 MW of solar power from SECI under the interstate transmission system (ISTS) program (Tranche VIII) for 25 years.

Background

In January 2020, SECI had issued a tender to set up 1,200 MW of ISTS-connected solar power projects (Tranche VIII).

SBE Renewable Fifteen was declared one of the successful bidders in the reverse auction. It was awarded 600 MW at a tariff of ₹2.50 (~$0.031)/kWh.

BHPSCL said the anticipated renewable purchase obligation (RPO) for solar power up to FY 2029-30 showed a continuous deficit scenario. It added that the procurement of solar power would help it meet its targets.

Also, as per BERC’s RPO Compliance Regulations 2010, the RPO trajectory from renewable sources had increased significantly.

Commission’s analysis

The Commission observed that purchasing renewable power in the present case could not be avoided in the interest of fulfilling RPO targets.

It said that the discovered tariff from SECI was competitive and was much lower than the average power purchase cost of the state’s DISCOMs for FY 2022-23.

Further, Commission noted that as SECI was selling such power at a discovered price to different states, including the DISCOMs of Bihar, CERC was the appropriate Commission to adopt the instant discovered tariff.

Considering all the facts, the Commission approved the procurement of 600 MW of solar power from SECI.

According to Mercom Research, Bihar had a total solar RPO of 1.5 BUs as of FY 2021-22. The state issued its new draft RPO regulations, including solar, under the ‘Other RPO’ target, set at 23.44% for FY 2022-23.

In January this year, BERC had approved the tariff and the power purchase agreement between the Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency and SJVN for procuring 200 MW of solar energy at ₹3.11 (~$0.042)/kWh.

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