Tata Power announced that its subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), has received a letter of award (LoA) to develop 100 MW of solar projects in Maharashtra.

The projects will supply power to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) under a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 25 years. TPREL won this capacity in the state distribution company’s (DISCOM) tender (Phase-V) for the long-term procurement of power from 500  MW of intrastate solar projects to help it meet its renewable purchase obligations (RPO).

MSEDCL had approved a tariff of ₹2.90 (~$0.04)/kWh for these projects. The tender was initially floated in December 2019 with a ceiling tariff of ₹2.90 (~$0.038)/kWh. It was initially undersubscribed as bids were received only for 350 MW with a quoted tariff of ₹2.90 (~$0.04)/kWh from two bidders – Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (100 MW) and Avaada Energy Private Limited (250 MW).

Maharashtra has been behind on its RPO compliance, and it previously filed a petition before the MERC against its new RPO regulations, asking it to not levy penalty on non-compliance of standalone annual targets and cumulative targets of RPO until 2022-23.

The project is required to be commissioned within 18 months from the date of the execution of the PPA. Tata Power said that the project is expected to generate 240 MW of power annually, offsetting about 240 million kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

According to the company’s filing on BSE India, Tata Power’s renewable energy generating capacity will increase to about 3.56 GW after the addition of this project. Of this, 2.637 GW is currently operational, and the remaining 920 MW is under implementation.

Recently, Tata Power announced that TPREL also received a Letter of Award from Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited to develop a 120 MW solar project in the state. In February this year, GUVNL had issued a request for selection (RfS) for the purchase of power from 500 MW of grid-connected solar projects (phase VIII). The maximum tariff payable to the selected bidder was set at ₹2.65 (~$0.037)/kWh.