Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has invited bids from developers to purchase power from 500 MW of grid-connected solar power projects (Phase-XIII).

The last date to submit the bids online is February 3, 2022. Bids will be opened on February 7.

GUVNL intends to procure solar power up to 500 MW of capacity to meet the renewable power purchase obligation (RPO) and to meet the future requirements of distribution companies. Projects under construction that do not have any power purchase agreement (PPA) will also be eligible to participate in the tender.

GUVNL may decide to enter into PPA with the successful bidders for 25 years from the scheduled commercial operation date of the project.

The project should be designed to deliver energy at the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) periphery. The successful bidder will be responsible for getting the grid connectivity with GETCO or the central transmission utility (CTU).

Solar Projects are allowed to be set up in the existing grid-connected wind farms subject to the availability of spare capacity for renewable energy integration at corresponding GETCO or CTU substations. Such projects must also comply with the clauses in the request for selection document and are subject to GETCO or CTU’s agreement for utilizing the connectivity granted to wind farms.

Bidders must provide ₹400,000 (~$5,377)/MW as an earnest money deposit. The successful bidder will have to furnish an amount of ₹944,000 (~$12,691)/MW as a performance bank guarantee after the issuance of the letter of award and before signing the PPA.

The minimum project capacity has been set at 25 MW.

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

The net worth of the bidder or its affiliate or the parent bidding company should not be less than ₹8 million (~$107,554)/MW of the quoted capacity.

GUVNL has stated that the declared annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) should, in no case, be less than 17%. The successful bidder should maintain generation to achieve annual CUF within + 10% and -15% of the declared value till the end of 10 years from the commercial operation date, subject to the annual CUF remaining 15%, and within +10% and – 20% of the declared CUF after that until the end of the PPA duration.

The successful bidder will be liable to pay compensation at 25% of the PPA tariff to GUVNL if minimum energy corresponding to the annual CUF is not generated.

In March last year, Sprng Ujjvala Energy, NTPC Renewable Energy, Coal India, and TP Saurya-a Tata Power subsidiary – were declared winners in the GUVNL’s auction to purchase power from 500 MW of grid-connected solar projects (Phase XII). The tender was floated in January last year.

Earlier, GUVNL’s (Phase-XI) auction for 500 MW of solar projects had set a new record. The lowest tariff discovered in the auction was ₹1.99 (~$0.0270)/kWh.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, GUVNL has so far floated tenders for 7.7 GW of solar projects.