Centre launches scheme for procuring 2,500 MW aggregate power

The Centre will invite bids during this week for the procurement of aggregate power amounting to 2,500 MW on a competitive basis for three years from generators with commissioned projects but without power purchase agreements (PPA), under a scheme the pilot for which was launched on Monday.

A Power Ministry statement here said under the scheme, the aggregator, state-run PTC Ltd, would sign a three-year mid-term agreement for procurement of power from successful bidders, and power supply agreements with the distribution companies (discoms).

"Under the scheme, a single entity can be allotted maximum capacity of 600 MW. The scheme assures a minimum off-take of 55 per cent of contracted capacity. The tariff will be fixed for three years without any escalation," it said.

PFC Consulting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run Power Finance Corp (PFC) has been appointed as the nodal agency and power trader PTC Ltd as the aggregator.

"PFC Consulting is in process of inviting bids in the first week of May. The bidding will be conducted on the DEEP e-Bidding portal and with L1 matching for bucket filling without reverse auction," it said.

The scheme is expected to revive power demand, the drop in which has affected generators who do not have PPAs, the statement added.

Meanwhile, all villages in India have now been connected with electricity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday.

On Saturday evening, Leisang village in Manipur's Senapati district became the last village to be connected to the national power grid. As per official data, there were 18,452 villages without electricity in the country at the time of Modi's taking office in May 2014.

The work of bringing power to India's nearly six lakh villages had been undertaken under the government's Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.

The government has set the next target of providing electricity connections to over four crore rural and urban households by March 2019 under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) initiative.

--IANS

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