Greentech Lead India: Uttar Pradesh aims to achieve an installed capacity of 500 MW till March 31st 2017 under the Uttar Pradesh Solar Policy 2013.
The state has also invited bids for a 200 MW capacity. A minimum five megawatt capacity solar power projects will be covered under this policy, the State government said.
Project developers who are interested in selling energy generated from Solar Power Plants to distribution utility of UPPCL will have to undergo the bidding process. Under this policy Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) will be signed for only a period of 10 years – typically the debt repayment period, meaning they can sell the power at a tariff greater rate than this after 2023.
The benchmark tariff for this bidding is expected to be around INR 7.0. The APPC in India is currently at around INR 3.5/kWh.
For PPAs signed as a result of competitive bidding, difference in the case I bidding tariff arrived at by UPPCL for purchase of conventional power and the price of solar power discovered through this bidding shall be payable to the distribution utility for power purchased from solar power projects for first 200 MW of solar power commissioned under this policy for a period of ten years.
Budgetary support provided by the State Government to the Nodal Agency under the budgetary head “Incentive scheme for Solar Power Generation” will be utilized for these purposes.
However, solar power developers who want to set up projects under this policy and do not want to sign a PPA with distribution utility of UPPCL and want to sell power to a third party, can set up plants under this policy without a bidding process but will not be allowed to sign a PPA even at a future date with distribution utility of UPPCL.
Punjab invites bid for 300 MW solar project, Karnataka for another 130 MW
The state of Punjab has invited bids for the allocation of 300 MW of solar PV in the first phase of its state solar policy. The project allocation has been divided into two categories.
The benchmark tariffs for the bidding process have been fixed at INR 8.75/kWh for companies not availing accelerated depreciation and INR 7.87/kWh for companies availing accelerated depreciation.
Karnataka also announced bid for 130 MW of solar PV projects under its state solar policy. The bid also targets concentrated solar panel (CSP) projects. The state has opted for a reverse auction based on a benchmark tariff of INR 14.50/kWh for PV and 11.35/kWh for CSP.