JNNSM Batch 2 Solar Project Selection Guidelines Announced

The guidelines for batch 2 of JNNSM were announced by MNRE today. NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam(NVVN) has issued the Request for Selection(RfS) document which can be downloaded at www.nvvn.co.in . The due date for submitting the RfS is 23.09.2011.

Some of the salient features of the guidelines include

• Total capacity under bidding – 350 MW
• Minimum capacity of a single PV plant – 5 MW
• Maximum capacity of a single PV plant raised to 20 MW.
• Plant capacity will be in multiples of 5MW. In other words, a developer can bid for projects of size 5 MW, 10 MW, 15 MW or 20 MW.
• Winners of projects under the previous round of bidding or under the Gujarat Solar Policy can bid for these projects.
• A company in any form (including parent, affiliate, ultimate or any group company) can bid for a maximum of 3 projects totaling 50MW.
• As an example for bidding, a company can bid for 2 x 15 MW projects and 1 x 20 MW projects(totaling 50 MW). Another example for the combination will be 2 x 20 MW projects and 1 x 10 MW project.
• Foreign companies can participate in the bidding process. But before signing of the PPA, they have to form an Indian company registered under the Companies Act, 1956
• Deadline for achieving financial closure raised to 210 days (7 months) from the earlier 180 days(6 months). The timeline for the commissioning of the project is also extended by a month – to 13 months from the date of signing PPA from 12 months earlier.
• “Part commissioning of the Project shall be accepted by NVVN subject to the condition that the minimum capacity for acceptance of part commissioning shall be 5 MW and in multiples thereof. The PPA will remain in force for a period of 25 years from the date of acceptance of respective part commissioning of the project.”
• Controlling shareholder of the project must maintain 50% share for 1 year (up from 26%)
• Domestic requirement – Both cells and modules have to be manufactured in India. This domestic content requirement does not apply for Thin film and Concentrating Photovoltaic(CPV) technologies.
• The bidder will have to deploy only commercially proven technology – those that have at least one project successfully operational for at least  one year, anywhere in the world. Crystalline Silicon and most of the Thin Films Technologies(CdTe, CIGS, a-Si) easily meet this criteria.

The entire document can be viewed here

A related news article from Bloomberg that quotes EAI is available here.

EAI expects the volume of bids to increase drastically with more big name companies taking part in the bidding process due to the raising of the PV plant capacity limits, better understanding of the technology and associated risks and ease of procurement of funds.

EAI offers Bid advisory services for developers planning to bid for projects under the current batch. Details are available here.

EAI also assists in preparing feasibility reports, detailed project reports and raising finance for PV projects.