The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has issued a tender to procure 500 MW of wind power from projects in the state that are already in operation or have been commissioned. The bid-submission deadline is January 14, 2019.

The MSEDCL has issued the procurement tender to meet its non-solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO). MSEDCL has fixed ₹1.97 (~$0.03)/kWh as the ceiling tariff for this tender. The distribution company will enter eight-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the successful bidders.

Who can participate in the bidding? Developers of new intrastate wind projects that are to be commissioned on or before March 31, 2019; under-construction projects that will be commissioned on or before March 31, 2019; already commissioned projects that do not have a PPA and will be able to supply MSEDCL the power from April 1, 2019 onwards and projects which are already supplying power to MSEDCL under an existing energy purchase agreement (EPA) which is due to expire on or before March 31, 2019.

The minimum bid capacity has been fixed at 1 MW.

The transmission of power up to the point of interconnection as well as the energy accounting infrastructure will be the responsibility of the successful bidder. The maintenance of transmission system up to the interconnection point will also be responsibility of the bidder. The successful bidder must comply with Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) regulations on Forecasting, Scheduling and Deviation Settlement.

Successful bidders must submit Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) of ₹2 million (~$0.03 million)/MW, two days prior to signing of the PPA. The PBG must have a validity period of up to six months from Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (SCOD) for new projects and from the date of execution of PPA for existing projects.

The successful bidders are required to sign PPA with the MSEDCL within one month of issue of letter of award (LoA).