Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has issued a request for selection (RfS) from developers to purchase power from 500 MW of renewable energy projects with assured peak power supply along with an energy storage system (ESS) under Phase XV.

Under this RfS, a project must comprise a minimum of two components, one being the energy storage component and the second the renewable energy generating component, which can be either a solar, wind or solar-wind hybrid project. The energy storage component should be half of the renewable energy components’ capacity.

The last day to submit the bids is July 30, 2022. The technical bids will be opened on August 2, 2022, and the financial bids on August 10.

Bidders must pay ₹25,000 (~$320) towards the cost of the RfS document and ₹300,000 (~$3,844) as a non-refundable bid processing fee. They must furnish an earnest money deposit of ₹1 million (~$12,814)/MW of quoted capacity. Successful bidders must remit a performance bank guarantee equal to ₹2.5 million (~$32,035)/MW of quoted capacity within 30 days of issuing the letter of intent.

The projects can be located anywhere in Gujarat. The minimum bid capacity must be 50 MW for projects having a combination of solar plus co-located ESS and hybrid projects with co-located ESS. Projects combining wind and co-located ESS will have a minimum bid capacity of 25 MW. The minimum size of an individual project allowed is set at 50 MW at one site, and a single bidder cannot bid for less than 50 MW in the case of a hybrid project with co-located ESS.

The rated power capacity of one resource, i.e., wind or solar, must be at least 33% of the total contracted capacity in the case of hybrid projects with co-located ESS. Individual sizes of 5 MW and above at one site with a minimum bid capacity of 25 MW will apply to projects with a combination of wind and co-located ESS.

GUVNL will enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with project developers for 25 years. The energy supplied during the off-peak hours will be eligible for a flat tariff of ₹2.29 (~$0.029)/kWh. The tariff discovered through an e-reverse auction will apply to the energy supplied during peak hours.

Aditya Birla (ABREL SPV 2), Hinduja Renewables Energy, and SJVN were winners in GUVNL’s auction to develop 500 MW of solar projects under Phase XIV with a greenshoe option of an additional capacity of up to 500 MW (Tranche-XIV). The tender was floated in April this year.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, GUVNL has floated tenders for 8.15 GW of solar projects.