The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has invited bids to procure 500 MW of wind-solar hybrid power on a long-term basis from grid-connected interstate and intrastate projects.

The last date to submit the bids online is June 8, 2021.

To participate in the bidding process, interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹500,000 (~$6,806)/MW/project as an earnest money deposit.

MSEDCL will enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the selected bidders to purchase wind-solar hybrid power for 25 years from the commercial operation date of the projects.

The minimum project size of a single hybrid power project for the intrastate projects should be 25 MW, with at least 10 MW project at one site. It should be 50 MW for interstate projects at one site to be interconnected to a single delivery point.

The voltage level for intrastate projects is required to be 33 kV or above of state transmission utility (STU)/Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) substation.

For interstate projects, the energy settlement and delivery point will be at Maharashtra STU/MSETCL limits.

The projects to be selected should provide for the deployment of wind-solar hybrid power technology. The bidding document also specifies that only commercially established and operational technologies should be used to minimize the technology risk and achieve timely commissioning of the projects.

The interstate or intrastate projects already commissioned but lacking any long-term PPA with any agency will be considered if these projects are not already accepted under any other central or state programs and do not have any obligations towards existing buyers.

To qualify in the bidding process, the bidder’s net worth should not be less than ₹10 million (~$136,138)/MW for the last financial year. The minimum annual turnover of the bidder should be ₹7.5 million (~$102,103)/MW of the quoted capacity during the last financial year as of the date at least seven days before the bid submission date.

In the form of profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes, the internal resource generation capacity should be at least ₹1.5 million (~$20,420)/MW of the quoted capacity on the last date of the previous financial year.

The bidder should have a letter from the lending institution committing a ‘line of credit’ for a minimum amount of ₹1.87 million (~$25,457)/MW of the quoted capacity. This is needed to meet the working capital requirement of the project.

The responsibility of getting the grid connectivity with the central transmission utility or the state transmission utility will rest entirely with the successful bidder.

As per the tender document, the developer should maintain generation to achieve an annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) not less than 90% of the declared value and not more than 120% of the declared CUF value during the PPA duration of 25 years.

MSEDCL had earlier issued a tender for the procurement of hybrid renewable power to meet its renewable purchase obligation. It had set a ceiling tariff of ₹2.80 ($0.039)/kWh for the projects. Another wind-solar hybrid tender by MSEDCL had a tariff cap of ₹2.75(~$0.039)/kWh.

Recently, MSEDCL has also invited bids to procure power from 500 MW of interstate or intrastate grid-connected solar projects on a long-term basis.

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