PSPCL Issues Tender To Procure Power From 1GW Grid-Connected Solar Projects

The Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPCL) has published a request for selection (RfS) to choose bidders through a long-term tariff-based competitive bidding procedure to purchase power from 1 GW of grid-connected solar projects.

The deadline for bid submissions is June 20, 2022, and on the same day, the bids will be opened. On June 25, 2022, the reverse auction will take place.

Bids must be proposed in multiples of 10 MW, with a minimum bid capacity of 50 MW. Bidders may submit bids for projects in various locations, as long as each project has a minimum capacity of 15 MW.

However, the total capacity available cannot exceed 1 GW.

Bidders have to pay a non-refundable RfS document fee of Rs 25,000 as well as a tender processing charge of Rs 300,000. Additionally, bidders must submit an earnest money deposit of Rs 400,000/MW of quoted capacity.

Selected bidders further have to submit a performance guarantee of Rs 1.18 million/MW of the proposed capacity.

Successful bidders must build the solar project and the transmission network all the way to the delivery point. The project chosen under this tender can be implemented in any place in India.

Interstate transmission systems (ISTS), PSTCL grid-connected interstate, and grid-connected interstate projects are the only ones that are qualified.

PSPCL will sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with selected bidders for a period of 25 years beginning with the project’s anticipated commercial operating date.

Projects that are under construction, have not yet been commissioned, or have previously been commissioned but do not have a long-term committed PPA with any agency and are selling electricity on a short-term or merchant plant basis will be regarded. 

The bidders’ net worth as of the end of the preceding fiscal year 2021-22 must not be less than Rs 10 million/MW of stated capacity and must have had a minimum annual revenue of Rs 5 million during the previous audited fiscal year to participate in the bidding process.

Bidders must be able to make internal resources in the form of profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes (PBDIT) for a minimum of Rs 1 million/MW of the capacity quoted. They must obtain an in-principle sanction letter from a financing institution agreeing to a line of credit of Rs 1.25 million/MW of quoted capacity.

The competitive pricing to be first quoted by bidders during the bidding process must be firm and less than Rs 2.30/kWh, and it will be valid for the duration of the contract.