Punjab 250 MW Solar Tender Results

 

 

Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), nodal agency of Punjab, has invited Request for Proposal (RfP) on December 24, 2014 for development of 250 MW Solar Projects in the State.

 

The Projects were to be developed under following categories: 

• Category–I: 50 MW Capacity (project capacity 1 MW to 4 MW)
• Category–II: 100 MW Capacity (project capacity 5 MW to 24 MW)
• Category–III: 100 MW Capacity (project capacity 25 MW to 50 MW

Bid submission and Non financial bid opening were on January 28, 2015.

Total 32 bids (21 in Cat-I, 7 in Cat-II & 5 in Cat-III) were received aggregating to ~388 MW (34 MW in Cat-I, 149 MW in Cat-II & 205 MW in Cat-III)

The financial bids opened on February 10, 2015.

Summary of Bid Results

• Total Bids: 32 (aggregate capacity 388 MW)
• Lowest Bid: Azure – 4 MW (Rs 7.33/unit) under category I, SolaireDirect – 24 MW (Rs 6.88/unit) under Category II, 50 MW (Rs 6.88/unit) under Category III
• Highest Winning Bid: RatanIndia – 4 MW (Rs 7.45/unit) under Cat I, 24 MW (Rs 7.42/unit) under Cat II & 50 MW (Rs 7.56/unit) under Cat III

List of Successful Bidders

Bidders	Cat-I			Cat-II		Cat-III		Total Capacity (MW)	Levellized Tariff (Rs/Unit)
	Capacity (MW)	Tariff Rs/Unit	Capacity (MW)		Tariff Rs/Unit	Capacity (MW)	Tariff Rs/Unit
ACME	-	-	24		7.16	50	7.06	74	7.09
RatanIndia	4	7.45	24		7.42	50	7.56	78	7.51
Solaire Direct	-	-	24		6.88	30	6.88	54	6.88
Azure	4	7.33	24		7.19	0	0	28	7.21
Total	8	-	96		-	130	-	234	-

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India Draws Bids for Triple Solar Capacity Offered for Phase II of National Solar Mission…

 

India received bids for almost triple the 750 megawatts of solar capacity offered after enticing developers with grants for the first time that will cover part of the cost of the plants.

The state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India received 58 bids for 2,170 megawatts in the country’s first national auction of photovoltaic licenses in two years, Tarun Kapoor, joint-secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said in an interview today in New Delhi.

The technical bids will be opened today to check whether companies meet the qualifications to build plants, Rajendra Nimje, managing director of Solar Energy Corp., said in an interview. The financial bids will be opened in about a month after the initial evaluation is finished, he said.

The tender offers improved revenue security to investors seeking a foothold in a market, where the cost of sun power may equal that of other sources within three years.

The government is set to provide as much as 18.75 billion rupees ($303 million) in grants for the projects. That will reduce construction costs, allowing the winning developers to sell the electricity they generate at about the same price as conventional power.

The tender may be the “least risky” of at least nine national and state-level auctions held so far in India, said Bharat Bhushan, New Delhi-based solar analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Source

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Govt plans to offer 4 coal blocks in first tranche of auction…

 

The Centre is planning to offer four coal blocks to power sector out of the proposed ten to be auctioned in the first lot through competitive bidding in the first tranche.

"We are planning to offer four coal blocks to the power sector and other six for non-power sectors," coal secretary S K Srivastava said.

He said that in another one month the government was hoping to concretise the road map for the auction.

The ministry was learnt to have shortlisted some 29 blocks that would be put for auction through competitive bidding route.

Srivastava said the government would auction the coal blocks after deciding on the sectors to be offered.

It was yet to finalise the sectors for which the other six blocks would be offered in the first tranche, he said.

The government, in the past, had expressed confidence in completing the auction by March.

The Coal ministry was also in the process of finalising new bidding rules and a draft Request For Proposal (RFP) for public feedback had already been issued.

The draft RFP said that if an allottee was found to have directly or indirectly engaged in a corrupt, fraudulent, coercive, undesirable or restrictive practice in the bidding, then it won't be eligible to participate in any tender or RFP for another five years.

Incidentally, the ministry was trying to incorporate strong clauses to prevent any corrupt practice.

Source

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Final price bids for Odisha, Tamil Nadu UMPPs to open on 26 February…

 

The final price bids for the two ultra mega power projects (UMPP)—Odisha and Tamil Nadu—will open on 26 February, power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday.

The minister said that the projects will be awarded to the successful bidders post opening of the financial bids.

All the nine applicants for Odisha UMPP and eight applicants for Cheyyur UMPP (Tamil Nadu) who have applied for request for qualification (RFQ) have been shortlisted for issuance of request for proposal (RFP), or the final price bids.

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is the nodal agency for UMPPs in the country. UMPP is coal-based thermal power project that have 4,000 megawatt (MW) of generation capacity.

The apex evaluation committees cleared all the technical bids in the first round. Both the committees are headed by V.K. Shunglu, ex-CAG.

NTPC, Tata Power, NHPC, Adani Power, JSW Energy, Jindal Power (an arm of Jindal Steel and Power), Sterlite Infraventures, CLP India and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) had submitted applications for the Odisha project.

NTPC, Adani Power, CLP India, GMR Energy, Jindal Power, JSW Energy, L&T and Sterlite Infraventures had submitted bids for the Cheyyur UMPP in Tamil Nadu.

Odisha UMPP is a pit-head power project. Based on domestic coal to be sourced from allocated captive coal blocks, it is expected to cost around Rs25,000 crore.

The Cheyyur UMPP is a coastal power project, based on imported coal, with an expected investment of about Rs24,200 crore.

So far, four UMPPs have been awarded, of which Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand)—have been bagged by Reliance Power. Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

Source

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MMTC, Adani in fray for NTPC coal tender…

 

State-owned MMTC Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd and Knowledge Infrastructure Systems Pvt. Ltd (KISPL) are among the firms in the fray for supplying 7 million tonnes (mt) of imported coal estimated to be valued at around Rs. 4,500 crore to NTPC Ltd.

The tender for the largest such package in the current fiscal year was called by NTPC, India’s largest coal consumer, which has a coal requirement of 166.7 mt in the year to March.

Of this, 150 mt is to be supplied by state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd; the balance 16.7 mt is to be sourced from overseas. NTPC has already ordered for 9.7 mt with the price bids opened for the balance 7 mt this month.

“This 7 mt is being sourced through four separate tenders for which the price bids have been opened. They are under evaluation,” said a senior NTPC executive requesting anonymity.

Another NTPC executive confirmed that MMTC, Adani Enterprises and KISPL were in the fray for supplying fuel to India’s largest power generation utility.

The utility has the capacity to generate 42,454 megawatts (MW) of electricity with 17 coal-fuelled projects. The demand for coal will increase with the utility setting a target of becoming a 128,000 MW power producer by 2032. Of this, 56% or 71,680MW will be coal-based.

“Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for imported coal procurement was notified in newspapers and is currently under evaluation therefore the information sought can not be shared at this stage,” an NTPC spokesperson said in reply to emailed queries.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of MMTC and Adani Enterprises on Wednesday remained unanswered as of press time on Monday.

“We are one of the participants in the recent NTPC tender for imported coal,” a KISPL spokesperson said in an emailed response. “We are awaiting formal announcement and award of contract by NTPC.”

Analysts said NTPC must improve procurement efficiency.

“The negotiated route with coal miners in select geographies such as Indonesia, South Africa and Australia may have greater procurement efficiency given that the volumes are large and the miners may favour long-term contracts in view of uncertainties ahead, but these need to be weighed against the established procedures and objectives of transparency,” said Dipesh Dipu, a partner at Jenissi Management Consultants, a Hyderabad-based resources-focused consultancy.

“In future, adopting a globally accepted standard contract of coal trade may also enhance procurement efficiency,” said Dipu.

NTPC, India’s largest power generation utility, has been allocated six captive coal blocks by the government and aims to mine 15 million tonnes per annum in three years. However, it has not been able to make them operational yet.

“India has a strong structural demand for coal, given the country’s reliance on thermal power. We expect the country’s thermal coal-based power capacity to increase from an estimated 123GW at the end of FY13 to ~150GW by FY16,” UBS Global Equity Research wrote in a 18 December report.

“Thereby, we expect the total coal demand to increase from~720 mt in FY13 to 920 mt in FY16. However, we expect the domestic coal supply to only cater to 76% of the FY16 coal demand, with rest of the requirement being filled up by imports,” it said.

NTPC’s orders comes at a time when demand for the fuel in the country is expected to grow from 649 mt per year now to 730 mt in 2016-17, and its failure in securing coal assets overseas.

Of India’s current capacity of 227,356.73MW, 58.6%, or 133,188.39MW, is fuelled by coal.
NTPC has an 18.29% share of India’s installed power generation capacity.

Source

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Second set of clarifications on NSM Phase II Batch I issued by SECI...

 

Solar Energy Corporation of India has uploaded second set of clarifications on the 750 MW NSM Phase-II Batch-I bidding documents.

SECI has held a stake holder's meeting on 2nd January 2014 to discuss the unresolved issues post pre-bid meeting of 19th November 2013.

The clarifications covers various issues related to RfS, PPA, and VGF Securitization Agreement of tender documents.

 

Sl. No.		Queries	SECI’s Replies
VGF Related Queries
1.	Ranking of SECI’s Charge		SECI will have  second charge along with first charge of lending institutions. VGF Securitization Agreement shall be suitably amended.
2.	Calling of Event of Defaults		SECI shall call / trigger event of defaults pursuant to VGF Securitization   Agreement    with   consent   of   lending Institution (if any).   VGF Securitization Agreement shall be suitably amended.
3.	SECI’s Right to Step in		SECI will have the right to step-in along with the lending institutions (if any). However, SECI will exercise this right only in the event that lending institution exercises its right to step in and take over the Project for recovery. Further, in the event the lending institution exercises its right to take over the Project for substitution of SPD, the substituting SPD shall have to necessarily meet the eligibility conditions as stipulated in the RfS document and shall honour the existing PPA and VGF Securitization Agreement.
4.	Timing of creation of SECI’s Charge on the Project Assets		It is clarified that SPDs are required to create SECI’s charge before raising of first VGF Disbursement request.
5.	Provision of Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) adjustment on account of abnormally low solar irradiance year		Provision to adjust CUF on account of abnormally lowsolar irradiance in an year shall be incorporated in VGF Securitization Agreement and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)  in following manner: Abnormally low solar irradiance year shall be declared if the actual radiation in the year under consideration is less than 50% of average values available from the nearest IMD/SRRA stations.   VGF Securitization Agreement & PPA shall be suitably amended.
6.	Inclusion of Force Majeure Conditions in the VGF Securitization Agreement.		Force Majeure conditions on the similar line of PPA shall be included in the revised VGF Securitization Agreement.   For avoidance of any doubt, in case of occurrence of Force-majeure conditions resulting in partial damage or total damage, if the SPD is able to revive the project in a mutually agreed time schedule, then disbursement of VGF will be continued. In case the SPD is unable to revive the project, SECI will have the claim from the insurance settlement of the Project.   VGF Securitization Agreement shall be suitably amended.
7.	Starting preamble point F: SPD would be eligible to receive VGF support amounting to maximum Rs. [Insert VGF Amount in Cr.] Crores, which shall be released by SECI subject to funds made available by MNRE		The phrase “subject to funds made available by MNRE” shall be deleted.   VGF Securitization Agreement shall be suitably amended.
8.	Submission of Land Conversion documents		A   no   objection/   Consent/   suitability/   Conversion certificate from the concerned and competent authority for land usage for development of Solar power Project, is required to be submitted by SPDs, not later than third Tranche of VGF Disbursement.
9.	Article 3.1 (d) : submission of irrevocable and un-conditional personal guarantee of SPD’s promoters / directors		Deleted
10.	Article 4.1: Event of Default: f) Change in the controlling shareholding or change in the shareholding pattern resulting into change in controlling shareholding pattern of the SPD without prior written intimation to SECI h)  If the property given as mortgage depreciates in value or is rendered inadequate to such an extent that in the opinion of SECI further additional security to the satisfaction of SECI should be given and such security is not given, in spite of being called upon to do so k) If SPD formed by successful consortium as a special purpose vehicle for execution of the Project is engaged in any business or activities either alone or in partnership or joint venture other than execution of the Project, without the prior written consent of SECI		Deleted.
11.	Incorporation of clause to facilitate faulty equipment		Provision  to facilitate replacement of faulty / defective equipment during the course of operation of the Project shall be suitably incorporated in the VGF Securitization Agreement
12.	Article 7.1 (a) Inspection of Book of Accounts of SPDs		The  entire  clause  shall  be  amended  to  address  the apprehensions of SPDs in following manner: “The VGF is supported by the Government of India through budgetary resources, and therefore SPD shall maintain accounts and documents related to VGF in a manner which shall meet the requirements of guidelines / instructions issued by the Government of India from time to time.”
13.	Article 7.1 (c) : SPDs not to sell, gift lease, rent transfer or dispose-off in any other manner		The   clause   shall   be   amended   to   incorporate   the provisions of PPA.
General Issues
1.		Elaboration of Project Capacity and  Contract  Capacity  as defined   in   MNRE   guidelines/ RfS/ PPA/ VGF Securitization agreement.	Project  Capacity  as  defined  in  the  guidelines  is  the minimum AC capacity at Project bus bar as declared by the bidder for the purpose of bidding based on which the bidder shall seek VGF. It may happen that the Project Capacity at the Project bus-bar is higher than the capacity at the Delivery Point on account of losses. No extra VGF shall be payable for this extra capacity.   The Contracted Capacity is the maximum AC capacity at the delivery point on which the PPA and VGF securitization agreement shall be signed. SPD shall suitably design the Project so as to ensure that the SPD can demonstrate the Project capacity at the bus bar. SPD shall take into account all the losses at various points including transmission losses from Project bus bar up to the delivery point and the SPD is able to deliver the Contracted Capacity at the delivery point.
2.		Connectivity letter: It is requested that letters indicating a connectivity time period of 24 months (which will not meet the 13 month period as stipulated in RfS) may be accepted by SECI.	SECI may provisionally accept connectivity letters only in cases where the STU has indicated that they will make all efforts to provide connectivity within the time period as specified by SECI. However, the SPD shall be solely responsible to ensure availability of evacuation facility so as to commission the Project within 13 months from signing of PPA. Further, the bidders are advised to select the Project locations where the evacuation facility is available and projects can be completed within the stipulated time.
3.		Controlling  shareholding:  It  is requested              that         since fully, compulsory and mandatory convertible shares/debentures are allowed, the requirement of more than 50% of the paid up capital may be relaxed.	To bring more clarity on Controlling Shareholding, it is clarified that, Controlling shareholding shall mean not less than 51% of the voting rights and paid-up share capital   (including   fully,   compulsory  and   mandatory convertible   Preference   shares/Debentures)   in   the Company/Consortium developing the project.   For avoidance of any doubts, it is clarified that fully, compulsory and mandatory convertible Preference shares/Debentures convertible at any date, or equity in the name of Promoter has to remain not less than 51% from the date of bid submission up to completion of 1 year after COD.   Necessary amendments shall be issued shortly.
4.		Selection of Projects: Elaboration regarding order of preference to be indicated by bidders	The  Clause  3.6.3  of  the  RfS  shall  be  amended  by modifying the condition “strictly in the ascending order of VGF sought for each Project.” with “strictly in the ascending order of VGF sought for each Project in respective category”. It is further clarified that within one category, the bidder cannot give a higher preference for a Project with higher VGF Amount (Preference-1 being the highest preference with lowest VGF Amount in the respective categories). Thus, the Projects shall be ranked from 1-10 as per the Bidder’s preference, but within a single category, the Bidder must indicate preference in the increasing order of VGF sought. Necessary amendments in RfS will be issued shortly.
5.		Eligibility           of          LLCs for participation in the process	It is clarified that Limited Liability company (LLC) shall be allowed only for those LLCs which are formed by companies. Necessary amendments in RfS will be issued shortly.
6.		Difference in methodology specified in Guidelines and RfS for conversion of EMD Amount into PBG	Single  EMD  can  be  submitted  by  the  bidder  for  the cumulative capacity of Projects for which bids are submitted. In case a bidder submits proposal for a capacity more than 100 MW in line with provision as per clause 2.7.e, of guidelines, EMD shall be submitted for 100 MW only. In case of successful bidders, EMD @ Rs 10 Lakhs/ MW shall be returned on submission of performance guarantee for the selected projects @ Rs 30 Lakh/ MW on the same day of release of EMD by SECI.
7.		Allocation        of     Part Capacity: during the selection process	During the Project selection process, there is a possibility of exceeding 100 MW which may qualify for selection depending on the Project size. In such cases the bidder may have to accept part capacity for the last Project in view of overall capacity restriction of 100 MW. It is mandatory for the bidder to accept such part capacity allocation and in case bidder refuses, the EMD value calculated for the part capacity of the last Project shall be forfeited.   Illustration: Suppose a bidder has submitted bid for a cumulative capacity of 150 MW comprising of 7 projects and based on the VGF quoted 120 MW capacity is getting selected  for  allocation.  The  bidder  has  already  got allocation of 90 MW comprising of 3 projects. Further if the last project getting selected is of 30 MW, only 10 MW can be allocated to restrict the total allocation to 100 MW. IN such a scenario it is mandatory for the bidder to accept the 10 MW towards the fourth project. In case bidder refuses to accept 10 MW, EMD for 10 MW (i.e. INR 1.00 Cr.) shall be forfeited.
8.		Clarification         regarding Open Access/   Wheeling   Charges   in PPA.	SECI shall be responsible for taking the Open Access/ Wheeling charges, wherever applicable.  Clauses 4.2.2 and 4.2.3 of PPA shall be suitably amended.
9.		Conversion of land for setting up of Solar PV Project	Requirement of land suitable for industrial use shall be replaced  by  “suitable  for  solar  power  development”. Accordingly, Format 6.10 of the RfS shall be amended.
10.		Installation of necessary equipment for monitoring of solar irradiance (including GHI, DHI and DNI)	The requirement of DNI measurement shall be removed. Accordingly, Clause 7.2 of PPA shall be amended.
11.		Clarification regarding availing of Accelerated Depreciation (AD) benefits	By  availing  VGF  if  SPD  or  its  Promoting  companies/associated companies at any point of time during the term of PPA, avails AD benefits against this Project, the tariff paid by SECI shall stand reduce to INR 4.75/ unit from the date of commissioning of the Project.
12.		Commissioning Procedure: Inverter Capacity	SPDs are generally required to install inverters having rated  capacity  equal  to  the  capacity  of  the  Project. However   a   negative   tolerance   of   10%   shall   be acceptable. For example, in case of a 10 MW project, the minimum acceptable rated capacity of inverters shall be 9 MW.   Necessary amendments in RfS and PPA shall be issued shortly.
13.		While filling the Formats, for the clauses which are not applicable for the bidder, does he need to delete them or strike out in the document submitted by him?	For the clauses not applicable for the bidder, he shall strike out such clauses and NOT delete them from the Formats.
14.		Leasing        of      Equipment and machinery:	It is once again clarified that Leasing of plant equipment and machinery is not allowed.

 

Complete document can be downloaded from this link.

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