MNRE to hold stakeholders' meet on 1,000 MW wind power auction
22/08/2016 06:28
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has invited stakeholders next week for consultation to firm up norms for auction of 1,000 MW grid connected wind power capacity. "It is proposed to hold another round of consultation on August 23, 2016 with stakeholders on the revised draft guidelines for the scheme for setting up 1,000 MW wind power capacity through tariff based competitive bidding," a senior official said. The official said the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which is the nodal agency for implementing the scheme, would float tenders next month for setting up wind projects with cumulative capacity of 1,000 MW to supply power to non-windy states. The ministry had sanctioned the scheme on June 14, 2016 and prepared a draft guideline for its implementation. These were placed on the ministry website for comments/suggestions/views of the stakeholders. A committee was constituted to examine the comments and suggest changes in the guidelines. Explaining further, he said this would be tariff based competitive bidding and will be awarded to bidders quoting lowest price (power tariff) bid. At present, the rate of wind power ranges between Rs 3.9 per unit (lowest in Tamil Nadu) and Rs 5.5 per unit in other states. This bidding may result in drop in prices of wind power as happened in the case of solar power. The New and Renewable Energy Ministry has planned to set up grid-connected 1,000 MW wind energy projects, which will supply power at price discovered through competitive bidding. According to the scheme, the project capacity will be determined by SECI for each tender, but will not be less than 25 MW for a single project developer at one site. The scheme for setting up of 1,000 MW wind power projects connected to transmission network of Central transmission Utility (CTU) will be implemented to supply power to discoms of non-windy states, the ministry had said in June.
