Centre seeks guarantee for solar, wind plants connected to grid
Buoyed by the bidding success of Rewa Ultra Mega Solar (RUMS), the Union government wants state governments to offer guarantees to grid-connected wind and solar projects.
The guarantee is of the three tiers of the payment security mechanism, which is in place for the project in Madhya Pradesh and is now been planned for adoption by other states.
The suggestion is part of new tariff-based competitive bidding guidelines for gridconnected wind and solar PV power projects that the Union ministry for new and renewable energy (MNRE) plans to develop.
The draft guidelines have been floated ahead of a twoday state power ministers’ conference starting Wednesday.
On February 10 this year, three projects of RUMS were bid out by the Madhya Pradesh government to Mahindra Renewables, ACME Solar Holdings, and Solengeri Power’s Spring Energy at very low tariffs that work out to ~2.97 in the first year and an average of ~3.3 over 25 years of the contract.
Later, on April 17, the three companies signed power purchase agreements with two procurers — Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company.
The MNRE has prepared these under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003, to create a reassuring framework for investors.
The government has scaled up the target for overall renewable energy capacity by more than five times to 175 GW by 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biopower, and 5 GW from small hydro-power.
Grid-connected renewable power has seen a growth rate of 91.57 per cent with a capacity addition of 22.5 GW during the last three years (2014-15 to 2016-17), as compared to 11.7 GW installations during the preceding three years (2011-12 to 2013-14).
The cumulative installed capacity of grid renewable power has reached 57.26 GW, which accounts for 17.52 per cent of grid power from all resources.