The Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) has issued a Request for Selection (RfS) for setting up 1.2 GW of renewable projects connected with the interstate transmission system (ISTS) and with a guaranteed peak power supply (ISTS-VII).

In this tender, a project should have at least two components. One will be the energy storage system (ESS) component and the other will be the renewable energy generating component. The RE generating component can be either a solar photovoltaic (SPV) system or a wind energy system or a hybrid system of both technologies.

Projects selected under this RfS will be eligible for two-part tariffs: Peak Tariff and Off-Peak Tariff. Energy generated during the off-peak hours will be eligible for a flat tariff payment ₹2.70 (~$0.03)/kWh while the energy generated during the peak hours will be purchased at the tariff discovered through e-reverse auction, SECI has specified. The bidders need to quote only for the peak tariff under this RfS. The applicable tariff under the PPA would comprise both peak and off-peak tariffs that will be fixed for the entire term of the PPA.

The projects will be allocated on a build own operate (BOO) basis. The developer must set up the project and a dedicated transmission network up to interconnection or delivery point. Approvals, permits and clearances needed to establish the project and the transmission network up to the delivery point (including connectivity and long-term access) also fall in the scope of work of the developer.

The bid submission deadline is September 17, 2019, and the technical bids will be opened on the same date.

The document processing fee is ₹0.5 million (~$ 7,233) with an additional 18% GST for each project from 50 MW to 90 MW capacity. The fee will be ₹1.5 million (~$21,700) for projects over 100 MW. An earnest money deposit (EMD) of ₹0.6 million (~$ 8,680)/MW has to be submitted by the bidders as a bank guarantee along with the RfS application.

The minimum capacity for each project in this tender is 50 MW while the maximum capacity has been set at 300 MW. The project capacity should be in multiples of 10 MW.

Bidders can submit bids for 50 MW to 600 MW which can be quoted in multiples of 10 MW. The total capacity that can be allocated is up to 600 MW.

Recently, SECI had floated a tender for selecting solar power developers for 1,500 MW of SPV projects under the second phase of the Central Public Sector Undertaking Program (Tranche-II).

Earlier, another of SECI’s tender for 2 GW of grid-connected SPV power projects (Tranche-I) under the second phase of the CPSU program was left undersubscribed by 932 MW.

Image credit: Nenad Kajić / Veneko.hr [CC BY-SA 4.0]