Stage set for mega solar park in Rewa
The war of mega scales has got going in the solar power space with the Madhya Pradesh government inviting tenders for 750 MW solar park at Rewa. The World Bank-supported project will be split into three units of grid-mounted solar photovoltaic power plants of 250 MW each.
The state government-owned Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd has tied with the Solar Energy Corporation of India to form an equal venture Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd (RUMS), which will be the implementing agency for the project. The three units will be developed on a pre-identified land parcel inside the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Project.
A two-stage bidding process will be conducted. Final selection will be done through reverse bidding for tariff, with no viability gap funding, over an e-bidding platform. The process is likely to be over by June when the selected bidders will sign power purchase agreement with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the state government-owned Madhya Pradesh Power Management Corporation Ltd (MPPMCL). While DMRC is committed to buy 121 million units (kilowatt per hour) from each of three units, MPPMCL will book 80% of the generation capacity.
So far, bidding for solar parks have been conducted in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh with Andhra Pradesh bidding for the highest capacity of 1,000 mw. Though Karnataka is said to be developing the biggest solar park with 2,000 mw capacity in Tumkur district, the Rewapark will the largest project with single evacuation point. All together 33 solar parks with 19,900 MW capacity are coming up across 21 states. Madhya Pradesh with 2,750 MW capacity planned for solar parks in the state is second to only Rajasthan in terms of solar park capacity.
For the financial offer, the bidders will quote the tariff that will be applicable to the relevant Unit for the First Contract Year (initial tariff). The last lowest tariff quoted by an eligible bidder during the Reverse Auction Process, for a unit, will be the sole criterion for determining the Selected Bidder for that units. If at the end of the reverse auction process, no bids are received from any of the eligible bidders for a unit, the eligible bidder with the best quote for that unit will be awarded that unit.
The solar park at Rewa will be coming up on 1,550 hectares of land. Selected bidder will be required to commission 100 mw if awarded one unit, 175 mw if awarded two units and 250 MW if awarded all the three units at the end of 13th month from the signing of project agreements. At the end of 18th month, bidders will have to commission the entire capacity.
Besides one-time payments of around Rs 3.26 crore, bidders for each unit will be required to pay land charges of Rs 5.4 crore, infrastructure charges of Rs 3.58 crore in the first 10 years and Rs 4.9 crore in subsequent 15 years and administrative charges of Rs 75 lakh.
