Procurement of wind power through bidding in TN

“If the bidding is not successful, the Discom may go for bidding without prescribing a cap after obtaining the Commission’s approval,” it said in the order on procurement of wind power and related issues. The order came into effect from October 7, 2020, and the control period will be until March 31, 2022. The tariff period will be as per the bidding guidelines. “The Discoms can also procure power from projects contracted through a competitive bidding process by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). For projects up to 5 mw, the Discom may conduct a separate bidding process after getting approval from the Commission,” it added.

The Commission noted that the banking facility would continue with the period of 12 months from April 1 to March 31, 2021, for projects commissioned by March 31, 2018. The applicable banking charges for these projects would be 14 per cent. The unutilised banked energy as of March 31 of the year may be encashed at the rate of 75 per cent of the applicable wind energy tariff fixed by the Commission for existing normal wind energy captive users.

“For projects commissioned on or after April 01, 2018, the energy banking facility will be for one month. There would be no banking charges. The purchase of excess generation or unutilised banked energy will be at 75 per cent of the respective wind energy tariff for usual wind energy captive users at the end of the month. For captive generators under the renewable energy certificate (REC) program, the unutilised banked energy at the end of the month can be encashed at the rate of 75 per cent of the pooled cost of power. There would be no facility of banking of energy for third-party power purchase,” it noted.

The TNERC said that the sharing of clean development mechanism benefits should be at 100 per cent in the first year for the developer which will be reduced by 10 per cent every year until the sharing becomes equal (50:50) between the developer and consumer. If the rates obtained through competitive bidding are comparable and below the variable cost of power from conventional fuel-based power sources, the licensee can procure power above the RPO limit.