The financial proposals for 3,492.5 megawatts of solar power projects will be open on October 22,2024

The Nepal Electricity Authority is going to open the financial proposals of 127 companies for 3492.5 megawatts on October 22. The authority invited proposals for 800 MW of solar power last March. In this proposal, 134 companies submitted proposals equal to 3600 megawatts.

Rajan Dhakal, head of the Power Trade Department under the authority, said that only 3492.5 MW of 127 companies were eligible for financial proposals from the technical evaluation. The authority issued a notification last Wednesday and said that the financial proposals of 127 companies will be opened on October 22.

Dhakal said that although there was a proposal equal to 3600 megawatts, only 3492.5 megawatts of 127 companies were selected for financial proposals from the technical evaluation. “When the proposal of 800 megawatts was requested, it was 3600 megawatts,” he said. According to him, in the financial proposal that will be opened on October 22, the lowest price and the capacity of the substation will be selected for the PPA.

The authority has set a maximum base rate of Rs 5.94 paise per unit of solar energy. 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. Dhakal says that the PPA will be done only with the capacity of the substation of the applied location and the 800 megawatts offered at a rate lower than the rate set by the authority.

Within the next two years, the authority plans to purchase an additional 800 megawatts of electricity from solar projects. According to the tender called for PPA for 25 years by the Authority, 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. It takes a long time to build a hydropower project, but since solar projects can be operational within a year and a half, solar energy connected to the grid has been given priority to meet the increasing demand for electricity in winter. The 963rd meeting of the authority had fixed the maximum base rate of 5 rupees 94 paise per unit for purchasing solar power through 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, PPAs of solar projects were limited to 10 percent of the connected capacity of the national grid. The authority has done PPA of 175 MW so far through competition. Out of that 107 MW is operational.

List of companies shortlisted for financial offer: Solar Developer-2024