37 companies selected for 620 MW solar power projects in National Solar Mission
IOC, Punj Lloyd among 37 cos chosen for solar power projects
Indian Oil Corporation, Mahindra Solar, Maharashtra Seamless, Lanco Infratech, Punj Lloyd Infrastructure, and Reliance Power's Rajasthan Sun Tenchnique are among the 37 companies selected to develop 620 MW of solar power projects under the Phase-1 of the National Solar Mission.
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), which has been designated as a nodal agency to procure solar power from the developers under the Mission, has issued letters of intent (LoI) to 37 project developers.
“The LoIs were issued on December 11. We have asked the project developers to sign the power purchase agreements (PPAs) on January 10, 2011,” a senior NVVN official told Business Line.
The other winners include Welspun Solar AP Pvt Ltd, CCCL Infrastructure Ltd, Oswal Woollen Mills Ltd, Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd, Corporate Ispat Alloys Ltd, Karnataka Power Corporation, KVK Energy Ventures and Azure Power.
NVVN had invited bids for developing 150 MW of solar PV projects with a capacity of 5 MW each and 470 MW of solar thermal projects with a capacity minimum of 5 MW and maximum of 100 MW each.
The companies offering the best discount on Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) notified tariff were selected.
The CERC rates for 2010-11 are Rs 17.91 (normal rate of depreciation)/ Rs 14.96 (accelerated rate of depreciation) per unit for PV and Rs 15.31 a unit for solar-thermal.
The average discount offered on CERC tariff for PV was Rs 5.75 a unit and Rs 3.82 a unit for thermal.
In solar PV, 21 projects with a total capacity of 105 MW will be developed in Rajasthan, three projects with a total capacity of 15 MW in Andhra Pradesh, and two projects having a total capacity of 10 MW in Karnataka. While Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa have got one project each having a capacity of 5 MW.
For solar thermal Rajasthan has got five projects - three for 100 MW and two of 50 MW each - totalling 400 MW. Andhra Pradesh has got one project for 50 MW, Gujarat one for 20 MW capacity.
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) guidelines the letter of intents were expected to be issued end-December, but NVVN has completed the task ahead of schedule. Appreciating the work done by NVVN, the Secretary MNRE, Mr Deepak Gupta, said, "We expect all the selected developers to sign the PPA's before completion of a year (January 11) since the Mission was launched."
