The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has announced a tender for 200 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to be developed in Kerala on Independent Power Producer (IPP) mode. The bid-submission deadline is February 1, 2019.

A single bidder must bid for a minimum of 1 MW and can bid for a maximum of 200 MW. The KSEB has fixed the upper ceiling tariff at ₹3.50 (~0.05)/kWh.

The scope of work includes the financing, selection of site, possession of land, obtaining mandatory approvals from appropriate authorities, design, engineering, construction, testing, and commissioning of the grid-connected solar PV project.

The successful bidder will be responsible for the construction of transmission lines and interconnection facilities. The KSEB will enter 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the successful bidder. The project completion timeframe will be 21 months from the date of execution of the PPA. Successful bidders must submit performance bank guarantee of ₹1.5 million (~$0.02 million)/MW.

In case of early commissioning of partial project capacity, the tariff for purchase of power from such capacity, till scheduled commissioning date (SCD) will be 75 percent of the PPA tariff. In case the entire capacity is commissioned prior to SCD, KSEB can purchase the generation at the PPA tariff.

According to the KSEB, “After a period of 15 years from the commercial operating date (COD) of the project, the minimum capacity utilization factor (CUF) will be reviewed based on past performance and will be brought down up to 14 percent to take care of panel degradation.”

In November 2018, Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) had approved a petition filed by KSEB seeking its approval for 200 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects to be developed in Kerala under IPP mode.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, the state of Kerala has an installed solar capacity of 76.4 MW and a project pipeline of 57.65 MW to date.