In what amounts to an investment commitment of over Rs 7,000 crore under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) has selected a total of seven bidders, including RPower, to build 479 mw power generation capacity, based on concentrated solar power (CSP) in the first phase of the scheme. NVVN is the nodal agency for implementing the first phase of the programme.
Of this, RPower, Lanco and KVK Energy will develop 1,00 mw capacity each while Megha Engineering, Godavari Power and Corporate Ispat will build solar plants of 50 mw each. The balance capacity will be developed by Arum Renewables.
NVVN is expected to issue a letter of intent to selected bidders by December end and power purchase agreements should be signed by February. Developers must achieve financial closure for allocated projects within six months and projects have to be commissioned within two years from the date of financial closure.
The bulk of the allocated capacity ? 429 mw ? is to be implemented in Rajasthan and the rest in Andhra Pradesh, one of the bidders told FE.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has determined feed-in tariff for CSP plants at Rs 15.31 a unit, compared with Rs 17.91 a unit of solar PV. The CERC has apparently set lower tariffs for CSP plants, given their superior cost economics because of the advantage of scalability.
The discount offered by a potential bidder to the CERC tariff is vital for evaluation of bids for allocation of projects under JNNSM. The highest discount at Rs 4.82 a unit has been offered by Lanco, followed by KVK Energy at Rs 4.11 a unit, Megha Engineering Rs 4, Reliance Power Rs 3.34, Aurum Renewables Rs 3.12, Godavari Power Rs 3.11 and Corporate Ispat at Rs 3.07 a unit. The government has envisaged 20,000 mw grid-connected solar power generation capacity by 2022. The programme is to be implemented in three phases. Capacity addition of 1,000 mw is proposed under the first phase, of which half will be based on CSP and the rest, on solar PV.