Bihar Government, through Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited(BSPHCL), has floated RFP for co-development of solar plants and pisci-culture projects to catalyze the growth of rural economy. The solar projects will be ground mounted projects. Since land is a constraint in the state, Bihar came up with the idea of using the land used for development of inland freshwater lakes for aquaculture, and also set up projects alongside.
The selection process will be based on the L1 method, wherein all the bidders will have to match the lowest quote(L1). The bidders have to quote discounts on the benchmark tariff of Rs. 9. 85 /kWh declared by the Bihar Energy Regulatory Commission(BERC), after considering accelerated rate of depreciation. In case there are not enough bidders who accept the L1 price and if 150 MW target is not achieved, the bidders who have agreed to the L1 price will be given the option of accepting additional allocation upto 30MWper bidder.
It may be recalled that L1 process has become very prevalent. Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had L1 process or some variants.
Some highlights of the bid are given below.
a. Off-taker or power purchaser – North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited/South Bihar Power Distribution Company limited as intimated by BSPHCL
b. PPA Duration – 25 years
c. Individual project size – Minimum 2 MW AC(+/- 5%) and Maximum 10 MW AC(+/- 5%)
d. Total bid capacity by a company or its affiliates – 30 MW
e. Net worth criteria – Rs. 3 Crores/MW upto 20 MW and Rs. 2 Crores/MW for every MW additional capacity
f. Bank Guarantee towards EMD – Rs. 20 Lakhs/MW
g. Project completion – 12 months from the day of signing the PPA; part commissioning of 2 MW and its multiples permitted.
h. Land – The projects have to set up in land adjacent to water bodies like ponds. The land could be government land or private. Identification and taking ownership of the land is the responsibility of the bidder.
i. Grid connectivity – The bidder has to get an “in-principle”approval from the State Transmission Utility(STU) regarding the feasibility of grid connectivity for the site.
j PPA – The CUF(Capacity Utilisation factor) should be in the range 12% and 19%. The offtaker will not pay the PPA tariff for energy generated above 19%. If the CUF is below the lower limit, the power generator has to pay a penalty.
k. Dispatch – Solar projects will be treated as “Must Run” power plants.
l. Payment Security Mechanism – Letter of Credit(LC) will be opened by the procurer.
The timeline is given below.
The draft RFP can be accessed here.
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