1,500 MW Tender Soon For Tamil Nadu

• TANGEDCO has plans to launch a tender for 1,500 MW soon, reports Mercom Capital Group
• The new capacity will help the utility meet its solar renewable purchase obligation which for the current fiscal year is 5%
• It has petitioned Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) to set 4.00 INR ($0.062) per kWh as the upper price limit for the tender, but the former is yet to decide on the matter
• TNERC has reportedly rejected the plea of NLC India Ltd. to extend the pre-determined tariff for its planned solar projects for the state

A new tender offering 1,500 MW capacity for solar power to be developed is soon to be floated by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), says Mercom Capital Group. With this capacity, TANGEDCO hopes to meet its solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO). The solar RPO share for 2017-18 it needs to meet is 5%.

For this tender, TANGEDCO has reportedly petitioned the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) to set 4.00 INR ($0.062) per kWh as the upper price limit for the tender, as per Mercom. TNERC is yet to take a call on this.

Recently, TNERC announced that it has brought down the benchmark tariff for solar PV projects in the state to 4.50 INR ($0.069) per kWh from the earlier 5.10 INR ($0.079) per kWh (see Tamil Nadu Lowers Benchmark Tariff). This is applicable from April 1, 2017.

TANGEDCO had previously received lukewarm response from developers for its 500 MW tender launched in November 2016. Later, in January 2017, it came out with another tender for 500 MW, for which the benchmark tariff was fixed as 4.50 INR ($0.066) per kWh (see Another 500 MW Solar Tender In Tamil Nadu).

TNERC rejects NLC's plea

In a separate development, TNERC has reportedly rejected the petition of state-run mining company NLC India Ltd. to extend the tariff period for its solar projects in the state.

NLC is supposed to set up 500 MW of grid interactive solar PV power projects in the state, and another 130 MW in Neyveli area of Tamil Nadu (see 500 MW NLC Tender For Tamil Nadu).  

The tariff for power supply to TANGEDCO for the 500 MW tender was set as 4.56 INR ($0.071) per kWh, and for the 130 MW it is 5.10 INR ($0.079) per kWh, as per daily newspaper The Hindu. However, these tariffs were applicable only if the projects were constructed before March 31, 2017.