Application for 3600 MW while asking for PPA of 800 MW in solar

Rajan Dhakal, director of the department, said that the technical evaluation of the submitted applications is underway.

'We asked for an application for 800 megawatts of solar energy, and about 3600 megawatts have been applied through 134 companies,' said Dhakal, 'now the technical evaluation of those companies is being done.' He said that he applied for.

The authority had called for bids in 080 Chait saying that it would purchase an additional 800 megawatts of electricity from solar projects within the next two years. A promoter shall apply not exceeding 150 MW. According to the tender called by the Authority for PPA for 25 years, projects smaller than 10 MW will have to provide electricity within 18 months and larger projects within two years. The Authority has called for a proposal to balance the increasing electricity demand and electricity supply in Terai's load center.

PPA of solar projects to be built near 200, 132 and 33 KV substations owned by the authority is being prepared. Kulman Ghising, executive director of the Authority, said that since the construction of hydropower projects will take some time, but solar projects will come within a year and a half, solar energy connected to the grid has been prioritized to meet the growing demand for electricity in winter. According to him, the land around the substation will also be used.

The authority has called for submission of proposals at competitive rates. The 963rd meeting of the authority has fixed the maximum base rate of 5 rupees 94 paise per unit for purchasing electricity from solar projects through competition. According to the authority, PPA will be done on the basis of suitability with the project that offers less than that rate in the competition.

Last year, when the authority called for a similar proposal for PPA of 100 MW solar project, the minimum PPA proposal was received up to five rupees 86 paise. The authority will conduct PPA of solar energy on the basis of competition within the limit of 10 percent of the total capacity of the national grid, which will include the existing connected capacity and the projects that have already been PPA. Earlier, the PPA of solar projects was limited to 10 percent of the connected capacity of the national grid.

Authority has done PPA of 175 MW so far through competition. Out of that 107 MW is operational. Another 30 MW of solar projects are in the process of PPA. The Authority has a 25 MW solar project in operation at its Devighat hydro power plant premises. According to the authority, it is in the process of procurement for solar energy at Gandak hydropower station, Madhyamrsyangdi and Surkhet. According to the Electricity Development Department, 42 projects of 757.7 MW have taken survey license. The department also informed that 14 projects of 97.06 MW are under construction.