NEW DELHI: The power ministry has postponed by a day the electronic auction to offer subsidy from the Power System Development Fund to gas-based plants that are stranded because of non-availability of fuel.
The reverse auction will now commence at 11 am on Tuesday for stranded power plants, the ministry said in a news release. For projects receiving limited amount of locally produced gas and running at sub-optimal levels, the auction will begin on Wednesday.
The financial support is for purchasing re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG). India’s total gas-based power generation capacity is 27,123 megawatts. Out of this, plants with capacity of 14,305 MW are stranded due to non-supply of gas, while those with 9,845 MW receive limited domestic gas.
The declaration of technically qualified bidders and electronic bidding for 31 stranded gas-based plants were to be held on Monday. Lanco, GMR, GVK, Essar Power, Tata Power and Ratnagiri Gas are some of the plant operators eligible to bid.
The technically qualified bidders will now participate in the e-auction on Tuesday where the financial bids will comprise two points: the total incremental electricity they the plants generate after winning the bid and the per-unit subsidy they require.
The electronic e-auction platform will automatically calculate and display the quantity of the required RLNG to generate the quoted amount of electricity. The bidders will then be required to quote the per-unit financial support, below the applicable ceiling price.
The technically qualified bidders will be ranked on an ascending order of per-unit support submitted by them and the allocation of RLNG will be in the same order.
The outlay for the support is Rs 3,500 crore for 2015-16. Of this, Rs 3,000 crore will be for stranded plants and Rs 500 crore for plants receiving domestic gas.
For the financial year 2016-17, stranded plants will receive Rs 3,500 crore and the others, Rs 500 crore.
