Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has issued a tender for the short-term power purchase of 185 MW or 405 million units (MUs) from renewable energy projects (non-solar) to meet its renewable purchase obligation (RPO). Further, it has also issued a similar tender for short-term procurement of solar power of up to 280 MW of capacity or 115 MUs.

The PSPCL has invited bids from power traders, generators, and independent power producers who have valid inter-state/intra-state power trading licenses to procure renewable power between September 1, 2019, to November 30, 2019. It has set a minimum bid quantity of 5 MW for this tender. Bidders are also mandated to furnish certificates confirming that the energy supplied has been produced from renewable energy sources.

The successful bidders will not be able to claim renewable energy certificates for the power supplied as PSPCL is looking to meet its RPO targets through the procured power.

The last date of submission of bids for both the tenders is August 26, 2019.

Lately, Punjab has started issuing various tenders to scale up its solar installations in the state. The state currently has one of the lowest installation capacities in the country, standing at merely 810 MW, according to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker. Therefore, the state is now focusing on rooftop solar installations to meet some of its energy needs.

For instance, in July 2019, the Punjab State Transmission Corporation had also issued a tender to set up rooftop solar projects totaling 1,699 kW on various buildings owned by it.

In June 2019, the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) announced a tender for 54 MW of solar-biomass hybrid projects to be developed in the state under power bundling mechanism.