India's Maharashtra State Distribution Corporation has issued several tenders to purchase electricity for photovoltaic projects with a total installed capacity of 615MW, which will be installed at four locations in the state and built in Maharashtra. on land owned by the Traban government.

The following are the specific contents and requirements of the tender. The photovoltaic projects to be tendered include the 100MW Aurangabad-II project, the 181MW Aurangabad-III project, the 143MW photovoltaic project in the Pune area, and the 191MW photovoltaic project in the Konkan area. The deadline for bids is May 8, 2023, and bids will open on the same day. Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Corporation has set a maximum tariff of Rs 3.20/kWh for all PV projects. Bidders have to submit a deposit of Rs 100,000/MW and each bidder can only submit one tender.

The successful bidder must provide a performance bank guarantee of Rs 5 lakh/MW within 30 days of winning the bid. Valid for 14 months from the effective date. The power purchase agreement will be signed within one month from the date of the bid winning notice and will be valid for 25 years from the date of commercial operation of the proposed/new photovoltaic power generation project. The capacity utilization rate of photovoltaic projects that win the bid must reach 19% or more within one year. During the service period of the power purchase agreement, the photovoltaic project must maintain the specified power generation to achieve a capacity utilization rate within ±10% of the declared value.

Photovoltaic projects should be put into operation within 12 months after winning the bid, and certificates will be issued by the Indian National Load Dispatch Center and the Maharashtra State Distribution Corporation. Maharashtra Electricity Distribution will retain the performance bank guarantee if the project does not come on stream by the scheduled commercial operation date.

Bidders must have a net worth of Rs 5.5 lakh/MW in the last financial year and their minimum net annual turnover should be Rs 2.5 lakh/MW. In addition, bidders must obtain a written approval letter from the bank, which can provide a credit line of Rs 1.25 lakh/MW to meet the working capital requirement. The project had to be designed to supply power to Maharashtra Distribution Corporation's 11 kV/22kV substation. Connections to the grid can be via dedicated lines or shared lines, but sharing will be at the discretion of the bidder, provided there is a legally binding agreement of more than 25 years between the bidder and other parties sharing the same power line.

Earlier this month, Maharashtra State Distribution Corporation also procured 225MW of electricity from distributed photovoltaic projects with an installed capacity of 500kW to 2MW under Part A of the PM-KUSUM scheme. In addition, the Maharashtra State Distribution Corporation launched a tender in January 2023 to procure electricity for 350MW of photovoltaic systems from upcoming photovoltaic projects in the state.Editor/XingWentao