The REC Power Distribution Company Limited (RECPDCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of REC Limited, announced that it was the lowest bidder in the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) e-reverse auction. RECPDCL quoted ₹2.58 ($0.035)/kWh for setting up 10 MW of solar projects at Bagru in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan, according to Mercom sources.

In its press statement, RECPDCL said that as per the terms of the request for selection (RfS) documents, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) would enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with them for the purchase of solar power for 25 years.

It added that the projects will be connected to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (RVPNL) grid substation, Bagru at 33 kV, and will be set up on 15-hectare land owned by JDA.

Background:

SECI had initially issued the request for selection (RfS) for setting up 10 MW of grid-connected solar power projects at Bagru back in June. The project is to be installed on a build, own, operate (BOO) basis on the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model and is to be commissioned within eight months of the signing of the power purchase agreement (PPA).

The tender documents also said that the SPV modules used in the projects must qualify the testing standards prescribed by the government. SECI has mentioned that crystalline silicon, thin-film modules, or concentrated photovoltaic, with or without trackers, can be installed.

In July, SECI issued an amendment to the tender lowering the tariff ceiling for the tender. It reduced the maximum tariff payable to the project developer to ₹3.14 (~$0.042)/kWh for 25 years from ₹3.20 (~$0.044)/kWh earlier. SECI also changed the connection point of the project.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Rajasthan has about 4.9 GW of large-scale solar projects in operation, and approximately 7.4 GW capacity is currently under the development pipeline, as of June 2020.

In July, the government-owned corporation floated a request for selection to set up 1,070 MW of grid-connected solar projects in Rajasthan (Tranche-III).

Recently, SECI issued amendments to the RfS document for the supply of 5 GW of round-the-clock (RTC) power from grid-connected renewable projects complemented with power from coal-based thermal projects.

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