VIJAYAWADA: The State government has made amendments to the scheme of setting up 10,000 megawatt (MW) solar plants to provide 9-hour free power to the agriculture sector, for ‘more competitive tariff in bidding’ and ‘smooth completion’ of the project as per schedule. The amendments include increasing the tenure of the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the solar power developer (SPD) to 30 years from 25, extending government guarantee, in addition to the already approved letter of credit, and bringing down land lease rental.
The justification provided by the government, according to an order (MS 25) issued by Exofficio Principal Secretary (Energy) G Sai Prasad on Saturday, for extending the PPA by five years is that the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) tariff based competitive bidding (TBCB) guidelines state that the PPA should not be less than 25 years.
