The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) has adopted tariffs of ₹2.98 (~$0.0313)/kWh and ₹2.99 (~$0.0314)/kWh for the procurement of 165.5 MW of solar power under the PM KUSUM Component-C2 program.

It also approved 29 power purchase agreements executed between Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation (UPPCL) and the project developer (Nacof Oorja, with MKC NOPL Green Energy as the SPV) for grid-connected solar power projects linked to segregated agricultural feeders.

Background

The Uttar Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) and UPPCL filed a petition seeking approval of PPAs executed between the project developer and UPPCL, and the adoption of tariffs under the PM KUSUM feeder-level solarization program.

The petitioners submitted that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had issued guidelines for the KUSUM program, which includes Component A for decentralized renewable energy-based power plants, Component B for stand-alone solar agricultural pumps, and Component C for the solarization of grid-connected agricultural pumps.

UPNEDA issued a tender to procure power from grid-connected solar projects connected to segregated agricultural feeders at distribution substations, with a cumulative capacity of 2,553.5 MW. The power was to be sold to UPPCL.

The tender saw participation from 235 bidders, with 153 selected bidders. Bids were received for 494 substations totaling 1,529.1 MW, and additional bid offers were received for 72 substations totaling 157.3 MW.

The petitioners stated that the PPAs covered in the petition were in accordance with the Commission-approved documents and contained no deviationfrom the bidding documents previously approved by the Commission.

The respondent, MKC NOPL Green Energy, said it had no objection to the PPAs and requested the Commission to approve them. It also sought directions to UPPCL to allocate bays and grant connectivity.

Commission’s Analysis

The Commission referred to its earlier order, through which it had approved the bidding documents, including the PPA, along with certain deviations for the procurement of 3,205 MW of solar power under the same program.

It noted that the bid evaluation committee had certified that the bid evaluation was carried out in conformity with the request for selection.

The Commission observed that projects covered in the present petition were awarded to Nacof Oorja. The 29 projects span locations including Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Hapur, Bulandshahar, Bijnor, Baghpat, Amroha, and Moradabad. The total capacity stood at 165.5 MW.

The Commission also took note of earlier orders under the same bidding process, through which it had already approved 306 PPAs totaling 893.4 MW.

After considering the facts, the Commission adopted tariffs for 165.5 MW of solar power and approved 29 PPAs.

Recently, UPERC adopted a tariff of ₹2.98 (~$0.0312)/kWh for the procurement of 56 MW of solar power under Component C2 of the KUSUM program.

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