The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has adopted the tariff of ₹3.11/kWh (~$0.037) for Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) to procure power from 500 MW grid-connected wind power projects in the state under a competitive bidding process.

GVNUL was directed by GERC to disclose the names of the bidders and the tariff they quoted on its website within 30 days.

This was in response to a petition filed by the GUVNL to adopt the tariffs and procure 500 MW of power from the state’s grid-connected wind power projects.

Background

The petitioner GUVNL floated a tender for procurement of 500 MW grid-connected wind projects (Phase V) with an additional allocation of up to 500 MW capacity under the Greenshoe option.

Only 300 MW of the total capacity was auctioned, and Juniper Green, Evergreen Renewables, SJVN Green, and Solarcraft Power (Blupine Energy) were shortlisted at ₹3.11/kWH (~$0.03), ₹3.18/kWh (~$0.038), ₹3.26/kWh (~$0.039) and ₹3.37/kWh(~$0.040)  respectively.

The developers will enter into a 25-year PPA with GUVNL and will be responsible for incurring all expenses.

The project will be designed to interconnect with the Gujarat state transmission utility or the central transmission utility substation through a dedicated transmission line. This is intended to deliver energy at the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation periphery.

GVNUL sought the adoption of tariffs from the Commission on behalf of the four distribution companies and has been entering into PPAs with renewable energy generators for procurement of power.

Since the bids were received only for 300 MW, a new e-reverse auction would be conducted for only 80% of the subscribed capacity.

Commission’s analysis

The Commission directed that the above four bidders be shortlisted for participating in the new e-reverse auction that was convened on May 5, 2023.

GERC decided to adopt the tariff discovered under the transparent, competitive bidding process conducted by the GUVL for Juniper Green Energy, SJVN Green Energy & Solarcraft Power (BluPine Energy) through the tender issued under Phase V dated March 14, 2023.

The Commission noted that the lowest to higher tender price fell between ₹3.11/kWh and ₹3.17/kWh, which is higher than the tariff discovered in Phase IV. It further acknowledged that it is imperative to augment wind capacity proportionately to complement solar power generation, especially due to the pattern of wind power generation, which is higher during non-solar hours.

The Commission decided to adopt the discovered tariff quoted by the four bidders respectively under the transparent, competitive bidding process. GUVNL, directed by the Commission, will also ink PPAs with the successful bidders, following which GVNUL is directed to publicly disclose the names of the bidders and the tariff quoted by them on its website within 30 days.

Last April, the Gujarat-based regulator also approved tariffs for 1.2 GW projects at Khavda Solar Park, with a greenshoe option of an additional 600 MW.

In July 2023, GERC also proposed draft regulations applicable for clean energy open access consumers.

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