The Ministry of Power (MoP) has recently notified amendments to the guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding (TBCB) process for procurement of round-the clock (RTC) power from grid connected renewable energy power projects, complemented with power from any other source or storage. The guidelines were first notified on July 22, 2020. Subsequently, the said guidelines were amended in November 2020, February 2021 and February 2022.
According to the latest amendment, the generator will supply despatchable renewable energy power complemented with power from any other source, in RTC manner, maintaining at least 90 per cent availability annually, on a monthly basis for at least eleven months in a year and during the peak hours. Peak hours will be four hours out of 24 hours as declared by regional load dispatch centres as per the relevant Central Electricity Regulator Commission regulation. Penalty for not meeting the stipulated availability will be equal to the fixed tariff for the number of units not supplied. Further, storage can be used for ensuring the required minimum annual and monthly availability. Moreover, annually minimum 51 per cent of energy will be offered from renewable energy sources.