The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has approved tariffs for ten solar power projects of Uttar Gujarat Vij Company (UGVCL) with a total capacity of 41.10 MW under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) program’s Component C.

The adopted tariffs range between ₹2.74 (~$0.032)/kWh and ₹3.04 (~$0.036)/kWh.

Background

The petitioner, UGVCL, had invited a request for selection in October 2023 for 6,000 solar irrigation pump sets. Letters of intent (LoI) were issued to ten bidders.

The petitioner contended that it had followed a transparent bidding process, adhering to all Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s guidelines.

Commission’s Analysis

The Commission reviewed the stage-wise bid evaluations of the projects and the tariffs after the e-reverse auction.

Additionally,  GERC observed that the bid evaluation committee had reviewed the bids for technically qualified bidders. It noted that the qualified bidders were invited to participate in a competitive bidding process after their price bids were opened. The process involved receiving more than one bid per project.

As per the terms of the tender, bidders quoting the lowest tariff were issued the LoIs. UGVCL made a counteroffer to the other bidders to accept the L1 tariff for allocating the balance capacity in the bucket of their respective bids.

The Commission noted that the petitioner ensured broader participation and competition by publishing the Notice Inviting Tender in newspapers with large readership and extended the bid deadline to ensure wide participation.

The regulator said it was satisfied with the petitioner’s tendering process, observing that it was conducted transparently and approved the discovered tariff.

Recently, GERC also approved tariffs for 101 solar power projects of Paschim Gujarat Vij Company with a total capacity of 259 MW under Component C of the PM KUSUM program. The tariffs adopted range from ₹2.35 (~$0.028)/kWh to ₹3(~$0.036)/kWh.

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