NHPC invites global bids for 2 GW of solar projects

State-owned power generator NHPC Limited has invited bids for setting up an aggregate 2 GW capacity of grid-connected solar PV projects anywhere in India.

The projects—to be set up on the land to be identified and arranged by the solar developers—shall be awarded through competitive bidding followed by reverse auction.

Bids must be accompanied with bank guarantee of Rs 400,000/MW. Further, the successful developer is required to submit performance bank guarantee of Rs 2 million/MW for each project within 15 days from the date of award of contract or before signing of PPA, whichever is earlier.

NHPC shall sign power purchase agreement (PPA) with the selected bidders for a period of 25 years from the scheduled commissioning date of the project. The maximum tariff payable is fixed at INR 2.78/KWh for 25 years. NHPC will sell the power purchased to State Utilities or any other beneficiaries.

The projects are to be developed under Open category, where modules can be procured from either domestic manufacturers or imported, provided these are included in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy‘s “Approved List of Models and Manufacturers.”

Capacity offered

A single developer can bid for projects at multiple locations, subject to each project having minimum capacity of 50 MW with cumulative capacity offered not exceeding 600 MW. However, the bidder must quote a single tariff for all of its project capacity offered.

The minimum project size is 50 MW, increasing in multiples of 10 MW.

Eligibility

To be eligible, the bidder should have net worth equal to or greater than the value calculated at the rate of Rs10 million or equivalent US$ per MW of the project capacity as on the last date of FY 2018-19 or as on the day not more than seven days prior to due date of bid submission.

Further, the bidder is required to show either a minimum annual turnover of Rs5 million/MW of the quoted capacity during FY 2018-19 or internal resource generation capability, in the form of profit before depreciation interest and taxes, for minimum Rs1 million/MW of the quoted capacity, as on the last date of FY 2018-19. Else, it can show a sanction letter from its lending institution/bank committing a Line of Credit for a minimum Rs1.25 million/MW of the quoted capacity, towards meeting the working capital requirement of the project.

Commissioning

The projects must be commissioned within 18 months from the effective date of PPA. For delay in commissioning up to 6 months from the scheduled commissioning date (SCD), NHPC will encash the performance bank guarantee on per day basis and proportionate to the capacity not commissioned.

For delay beyond 6 months from the SCD, the contracted capacity shall stand reduced to the project capacity commissioned up to SCD + 6 months. The PPA for the balance capacity not commissioned shall be terminated.

The maximum time period allowed for commissioning of the full project capacity with encashment of performance bank guarantee and reduction in the tariff is limited to 30 months from the effective date of PPA.