The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has approved a tariff of ₹2.60 (~$0.036)/kWh adopted by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to sell 600 MW of solar power allocated to SB Energy Six Private Limited to distribution licensees in Bihar and Punjab.

The Commission also asked the contracting parties to agree on the trading margin for long-term transactions mutually. Further, the Commission directed NTPC to intimate the Commission before initiating the bidding process in the future, which it had failed to do in this case.

Background

Earlier, NTPC had filed a petition for the adoption of the tariff for 600 MW solar projects connected to the inter-state transmission system (ISTS) under open category and selected through a competitive bidding process.

In March 2018, NTPC had issued the request for selection for setting up 2,000 MW of ISTS-connected solar projects.

In the e-reverse auction conducted in August 2018, ACME Solar, Shapoorji Pallonji, Azure Power, and SB Energy Six Private Limited were declared the successful bidders. SB Energy Six Private Limited was allotted 600 MW.

NTPC, in its petition, had submitted that it had agreed to sell the entire 600 MW of solar power to distribution licensees at the rate of ₹2.60 (~$0.036)/kWh with a trading margin of ₹0.07 (~$0.0009)/kWh.

Based on the request of the distribution licensees, 300 MW capacity was allocated to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), 600 MW to North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL) and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL). In addition to this, 1,100 MW was allocated to the Telangana distribution companies.

Subsequently, NTPC entered the PPAs with the successful bidders, including SB Energy Six Private Limited, which was allocated capacity of 600 MW. The 1,100 MW allocated to Telangana distribution companies didn’t materialize because the state DISCOMs failed to get the approval from the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission. ACME and Shapoorji Pallonji terminated the PPAs due to the non-fulfillment of the provisions of the PPA and PSA. Similarly, Azure Power also terminated the PPA on account of the same reason.

Later, NTPC filed the petition for the adoption of tariff for 600 MW to be established by SB Energy Six Private Limited and to be sold to Punjab and Bihar.

The Commission noted that the selection of successful bidders and the determination of tariff had been carried out by NTPC in a transparent manner and accordance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Power (MoP). The Commission further stated that it is up to the contracting parties to agree on the trading margin for long-term transactions mutually.

Recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy designated NTPC as the renewable energy implementing agency to facilitate the application of connectivity and long-term access in the interstate transmission system network.

A few days back, NTPC floated an invitation for bids for the selection of solar power developers for setting up 1,200 MW of ISTS connected solar projects in India.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, NTPC has 875 MW of large-scale solar projects in operation, and about 2.1 GW capacity is currently under development.

 

Image Credit: Total