The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has approved the deviation to the competitive bidding guidelines for the procurement of power from solar projects sought by the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited.

The generation company had petitioned the commission to approve the deviation in competitive bidding for a capacity less than 5 MW for the purchase of 184 MW of solar power under ‘Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vaahini Yojana’.

It had also requested that the commission accord its approval to the proposed changes in a clause related to the generation compensation in offtake constraints due to transmission or distribution network, and to the proposed payment bank guarantee clause as it is based on practical observations and is in favor of the program being implemented.

Maharashtra State Power Generation Company had also requested the approval for factoring the reduction in the land cost, so that the company can apply the ceiling tariff of ₹3.23 (~$0.047)/kWh.

While going through submissions made as part of the petition, the MERC approved the reduction in the minimum bid capacity from 5 MW to 2 MW. It also allowed for the off-take constraint compensation.

In its order, the MERC also stated that the performance bank guarantee would be considered as ₹2 million (~$29,060)/MW. The commission also ordered the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited to set the ceiling rate as per its due diligence and the prevailing market conditions.

Towards the beginning of July 2019, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) received the approval it sought from the MERC for the deviations in the standard bidding document for the long-term procurement of 500 MW of wind power.

Recently, the  Ministry of Power amended the competitive bidding guidelines for the procurement of power from grid-connected solar PV projects. This was the third time these guidelines were amended. The guidelines were previously amended in January 2019and before that in June 2018.