Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), in a recent order, approved the adoption of transmission charges for the interstate power transmission scheme housed under “Khavda RE Transmission Ltd”
The transmission scheme has been awarded to Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), under the tariff-based competitive bidding scheme. The letter of intent was handed over by the bid process coordinator RECPDCL to PGCIL on February 15, 2023, and the transfer of the project SPV to PGCIL took place on March 21, 2023.
Upon its acquisition, the project SPV has been renamed to “Powergrid Khavda RE Transmission System Ltd”.
The project is officially termed as “Transmission network expansion in Gujarat associated with integration of RE projects from Khavda potential RE zone” and has a gestation period of 24 months from the date of transfer of the project SPV to the successful developer. The project mainly involves setting up of the 765kV double-circuit line from Banaskantha to Ahmedabad, in Gujarat. This line will be equipped with a 330MVAr, 765kV switchable line reactor on each circuit at the Ahmedabad substation end.
Tariff quoted
PGCIL won the project under the TBCB modality when it quoted the winning tariff of Rs.77.327 crore as the levelized annual tariff. This has now been adopted by CERC.
Aggressive bidding
Five bidders submitted their price bids. Contenders other than PGCIL (L1) included Adani Transmission (L2), Sterlite Power (L3), Dineshchandra R. Agarwal Infracon Pvt Ltd (L4) and Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (L5). The bid evaluation committee (BEC) considered the top four (L1 up to L4) as eligible to participate in the e-reverse auction process.
Interestingly, in the e-RA routine, only PGCIL and Adani Transmission participated. At the end of the e-RA, PGCIL was declared the successful bidder with a tariff quote of Rs.77.327 crore, closely followed by Adani Transmission with a price bid of Rs.77.521 crore.
Aggression in the e-RA stage was very evident from the fact that PGCIL’s final bid (of Rs.77.327 crore) was 16.5 per cent lower than its initial bid of Rs.92.637 crore. Likewise, Adani Transmission bid very aggressively, with its final bid of Rs.77.521 crore as much as 26.2 per cent lower than the initial one. It is learnt that there were as many as 72 rounds of bidding during the e-reverse auction, between just these two bidders in the final fray.
Also read: CERC Grants Transmission Licence To Dharamjaigarh Transmission
Next step
Powergrid Khavda RE Transmission Ltd, the selected transmission service provider (TSP), will now apply for grant of transmission licence to CERC. The final tariff of Rs.77.327 crore, now adopted by CERC, will remain valid throughout the period covered under the transmission service agreement (TSA).
Featured photograph (source: Kalpataru Projects International) is for representation only
