Home »News» MERC approves MSEDCL to purchase 111 MW solar project under MSKVY at 3.05 rupees
In an order issued last week, the Maharashtra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) approved the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co., Ltd. to launch 111 MW under the "Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana" (MSKVY) The procurement process of grid-connected solar power projects. ). The order covers a total of 33 responding companies, who collectively bid for 111 MW of solar energy under the plan.
The order approved the long-term business prospects and allowed MSEDCL to sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with the winning bidder. The committee also clarified that solar energy purchased from these projects will be eligible to complete MSEDCL's solar RPO within the corresponding period.
The order is in response to a petition submitted by MSEDCL in October 2021, which seeks approval from the committee for the long-term purchase of 111 MW of electricity under "Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana (MSKVY)" for tariffs on 2 MW connections 10 MW capacity project to the distribution network.
In addition, MSEDCL has sought to approve the RfS and PPA documents for the 1300 MW tender under MSKVY.
In its earlier order dated December 18, 2020, the committee has approved the continuation of the continuous bidding process to select bidders with the highest price of Rs. 3.30 per unit under MSKVY. However, at the same time, the rupee tariffs. 2.36 per unit was found in the SECI tender project located in Rajasthan. Therefore, MSEDCL decided to float solar tenders under decentralized solar projects, with a revised upper limit of Rs. Each unit is US$3.05, with a cumulative capacity of 1,300 MW.
In keeping with the prevailing market conditions for decentralized solar power plants on December 13, 2019 and the MNRE guidelines, MSEDCL conducted a regionally wise 30 tenders on April 22, 2021 to purchase solar energy through competitive tenders. MSEDCL made the same request to the committee in a letter dated May 11, 2021 (that is, before the deadline for submission of bids on June 11, 2021).
The financial bidding of the 33 selected bidders will begin on July 6, 2021. MSEDCL requested the committee to adopt the electricity price for solar power generation above 111 MW discovered through a competitive bidding process. In an electronic hearing on the matter held in November this year, all bidding companies (selected by the MSEDCL bidding process) cited the general problem of China's solar equipment manufacturing supply interruption and the increase in goods and service tax rates as higher reasons. tender.
In fact, the Ministry of Finance has increased the import goods and services tax on solar modules and solar inverters from 5% to 12% on September 30, 2021 ("Ministry of Finance Notice"). This obviously happened after June 11, 2021, the last date for bid submission. This was pointed out as a "law change" event.
When refusing to accept respondents' requests to regard price increases and changes in goods and services tax as events of force majeure and "change of law", respectively, MERC agreed with MSEDCL's argument that these issues can only be considered after signing the power purchase agreement. And the argument that the actual order will be placed only after the financial end of the PPA signing, so the decision can be postponed until the respondent reaches that stage, when the market situation may change again.
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