State-owned Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corporation Limited on Thursday said it finalised bids for development of 5,800 MW solar power plants with successful bidders, including the NTPC and AdaniRenewable Energy Holding Twelve Limited.
The tariffs for supply of power ranged Rs 2.47 per kWh to Rs 2.49 kWh, it said.
Besides NTPC (600 MW) and Adani (2,400 MW), Torrent Power (300 MW), Shirdi Sai Electricals (2,200 MW) and HES Infra (300 MW) emerged as the successful bidders, the corporation said in a release.
However, the bid received from Adani for development of a 600 MW unit in Prakasam district was not finalised yet.
“As the tariff is higher at Rs 2.58 per kWh, the committee is examining whether such a high-priced bid should be accepted, the release said.
If this bid was also accepted, the total generating capacity will increase to 6,400 MW.
The state government proposed to develop solar energy parks at various locations on build-operate-transfer basis to produce 10,000 MW of power, to be utilised for the agricultural sector needs.
In the first phase, the corporation invited tenders for development of 6,400 MW of solar power at 10 locations in Prakasam, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapuramu districts and received 24 bids.
The average power procurement cost was now close to Rs 5.2 per kWh, on account of the power purchase agreements signed during the previous regime, it said. The previous TDP government executed PPAs to procure large quantities of solar power at tariffs ranging from Rs 5.25 per kWh to Rs 5.90 per kWh during 2014-2017, it claimed.
The corporation said the “low tariff” of Rs 2.48 per kWh now quoted would result in a saving of about Rs 3,800 crore in the first year and could further increase over the years as tariffs would remain constant for the next 30 years.
But the cost associated with power from other sources was likely to go up, it added.
Source-Economic Times
