The Government of India has introduced a scheme for setting up 1000 MW capacity of wind power projects to be connected to the Central Transmission Utility
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of the Government of India has released the 'Scheme for setting up of 1000 Mega – Watts (MW) of Central Transmission Utility (CTU) – connected wind power projects' (the Scheme) dated June 14, 2016. The National Tariff Policy, 2016 (NTP) has in order to incentivise the harvesting of wind energy in general to other states and keeping in mind the findings of such studies, has waived the imposition of inter – state transmission charges on transmission of wind energy. In this regard, the Scheme has been introduced with the objectives to facilitate the supply of wind energy to other states at a price discovered through transparent competitive bidding process, encourage competition and facilitate the performance of the non – solar Renewable Purchase
Obligations (RPO). The Scheme initially envisages the setting up of 1000 MW capacity of CTU – connected wind energy power plants on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis, which could be increased on the basis of demand from distribution licensees. The Scheme shall be implemented in the manner as detailed below:
(i) Nodal Authority: The Scheme shall be undertaken by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) which shall be the nodal authority for the implementation of the Scheme.
(ii) Competitive E – bidding Process: The selection process of projects shall involve transparent e – bidding process followed by e – auction process by eligible bidders for determination of tariff discovered through open competitive bidding process, on the basis of guidelines as framed by SECI and the MNRE. Minimum eligible project capacity shall be 25 MW and maximum eligible project capacity shall be 500 MW. Bidders shall quote tariff for a period of 25 years. The Request for Selection (RfS) document for invitation of bids for tariff shall be issued within a period of 30 days from the date of issuance of guidelines for the conduct of the open competitive bidding process.
(iii) Off – take Arrangements: SECI may select a trading company through transparent Expression of Interest (EoI) process, for the purpose of entering into back – to – back Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with the distribution licensees. The trading company shall be selected prior to
floating of the RfS for selection of bidders, so that the prospective bidders have clarity on the trading company responsible for negotiating contracts with distribution licensees. SECI shall receive at least 25% of the trading margin from such trading company. The PPAs shall be for a period of 25 years from the date of commercial operation of the power project.
(iv) Incentives: The bidders can avail of fiscal incentives such as accelerated depreciation, generation based incentives, concessional customs and excise duties, tax holidays as may be available. However, no separate fiscal incentive from the Government of India is available under the Scheme.
(v) Approvals and Clearances: State nodal agencies shall provide necessary support for obtaining of all requisite approvals and clearances, in a time – bound manner, as may be required by the project developers, under the Scheme in order to facilitate the commissioning of such wind energy power projects.
In this regard, it is pertinent to note that the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) has estimated the wind energy potential to be approximately 302 Giga – Watts (GW) spread largely across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana which have most of the wind energy potential in the country.
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