The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has issued a request for a proposal (RfP) to select contractors for supplying renewable power from group captive open access projects.

The deadline for the submission of bids is extended to February 13, 2020, from the previous date of January 3, 2020. The bid opening date has been scheduled for February 14, 2020.

Interested bidders must pay a sum of ₹20 million (~$280,752) as the earnest money deposit (EMD). The bidder must deposit ₹2 million (~$28,075)/MW in the form of a performance bank guarantee (PBG).

Chennai Metro will enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the successful bidder for 25 years. The maximum tariff payable to the project developer has been set at ₹3.50 (~$0.05)/ kWh for the entire period.

The bidder must provide a bid for the selected generation source based on Chennai Metro’s requirement. The generation sources include wind, solar, and wind-solar hybrid.

The requirement from solar projects is 90 million units (MUs)/year, 72 MUs/year from wind, and 90 MUs/year from wind-solar hybrid projects.

CMRL has specified that the bidder will have to into account that the equity contribution of CMRL will be capped at ₹4 million (~$56,150)/MW for the purchase of a 26% equity share in the group captive model. The 26% infusion by CMRL will only be made after the corresponding 74% investment is made by the developer.

The commercial operation date of the power projects has to be within a maximum of six months from the date of signing of PPA. In the case of early commissioning, CMRL will purchase the power generated at 75% of the PPA tariff until the scheduled commercial operation date. Commissioning the project of not on time, will cost the developer 10% of the PBG for a month’s delay. The entire PBG will be encashed if the project is delayed by more than three months and up to four months.

The PPA will be signed within 45 days from the letter of Intent issued.

According to the tender document, the bidder must submit their bid for the entire capacity of the chosen generation source. The successful bidder may even supply the entire amount from more than one location provided they quote a single tariff for the total capacity.

The net worth of the prospective bidder should be at least ₹500 million (~$7,02 million) for the financial year 2018-19. The tender document also states that the bidder should have developed solar or wind power projects of at least 100 MW capacity. The bidder must have successfully operated such projects for at least six months. Further, the bidder must have experience in solar or wind power generation for a minimum period of three years.

The off-taker will need to pay all statutory open access charges and losses on an actual basis over the PPA tariff. According to the CMRL, the bidder needs to declare the annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) for the entire life of the project, which will be allowed to be modified at the time of the signing of the PPA. After this, the CUF for the project will remain unchanged for the entire term of the PPA. The declared annual CUF should not be less than 19% for solar PV projects and 29% for wind projects.

Over the past year, metro corporations in various states have come forward with their plans to reduce their carbon footprint by adopting renewable power to fuel their energy requirements.

For instance, a few weeks ago, Mercom reported that Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) allowed the Noida Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRC) to install 10 MW of rooftop solar power projects with a net metering facility.

Last year, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said that it has started utilizing power from a 12 MW waste to energy project set up by the East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited in Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh.

 

Image credit: Metro Rail News