The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has now come up with all the required details for the 1,400 MW  solar tender it had issued last year. The tender calls to develop 1,400 MW (AC) of solar projects in 30 circles of the state. Circles are one of the administrative divisions in the country which are essentially sub-districts consisting of various village clusters.

The MSEDCL has also extended the bid-submission deadline to February 6, 2019. The previous deadline lapsed on January 3, 2019.

According to this tender, 50 MW of solar projects will be developed in 26 circles, while 25 MW solar projects will be developed in four circles.

The MSEDCL had issued the tender in September 2018. Then in December 2018, MSEDCL amended a number of provisions in its request for selection (RfS) and power purchase agreement (PPA) of the tender.

A single bidder must bid for a minimum project capacity of 2 MW per circle and can bid for a maximum project capacity of 10 MW per circle. Out of the tendered 1,400 MW, a single bidder can bid for a maximum 300 MW of grid-connected solar PV capacity.

The state has also extended the project commissioning timeframe and intends to pay more for the ensued generation loss due to non-availability of an evacuation infrastructure. The new amendments coupled with the fact that MSEDCL has kept a tariff ceiling of ₹3.10 (~$ 0.043)/kWh for this tender may lead to participation from more developers.

Recently, the MSEDCL also issued a tender for the purchase of power on a long-term basis from 1,000 MW of grid-connected solar  power projects (Phase – II). For this tender, the ceiling tariff has been set at ₹2.80 (~$0.039)/kWh.

Image Credit: Suzlon