The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has issued a request for a proposal to select contractors for supplying renewable power from group captive open access projects. The bidder must provide a bid for the selected generation source based on Chennai Metro’s requirement. The generation sources include wind, solar, and wind-solar hybrid. The requirement from solar projects is 90 MUs per year, 72 MUs per year from wind, and 90 MUs per year from wind-solar hybrid projects.
Chennai Metro will enter into a PPA with the successful bidder for 25 years. The maximum tariff payable to the project developer has been set at Rs 3.50 per kWh for the entire period.The equity contribution of CMRL will be capped at Rs 4 million per MW for the purchase of a 26 per cent equity share in the group captive model. The commercial operation date of the power projects has to be within a maximum of six months from the date of signing of PPA. In the case of early commissioning, CMRL will purchase the power generated at 75 per cent of the PPA tariff until the scheduled commercial operation date.
As per the tender document, the bidder must submit their bid for the entire capacity of the chosen generation source. The successful bidder may even supply the entire amount from more than one location provided they quote a single tariff for the total capacity. The declared annual CUF should not be less than 19 per cent for solar PV projects and 29 per cent for wind projects. Interested bidders must pay a sum of Rs 20 million as the earnest money deposit and must deposit Rs 2 million per MW in the form of a performance bank guarantee. The deadline for the submission of bids has been extended to February 13, 2020, from the previous date of January 3, 2020.