Railways invite bid for 750 MW 24/7 renewable power

REMCL, a collaboration between Indian Railways and RITES, has announced an invitation to bid for the procurement of 750 MW of round-the-clock (RTC) power from grid-connected renewable projects with or without storage all over India for a duration of 25 years, acting on behalf of Indian Railways. The deadline for bid submissions is October 30, 2023, and bids will be revealed on November 2. Bidders are required to provide an earnest money deposit of Rs 980,000/ MW of the quoted capacity. The chosen bidder must present a performance bank guarantee worth Rs 2 million/MW of the allocated capacity at least seven working days before the signing of the power purchase agreement (PPA). Additionally, they are obligated to pay a success charge of Rs 100,000 /MW along with an 18% goods and service tax to REMCL. Each bid should have a minimum capacity of 100 MW. The project's yearly availability is fixed at 75% for the initial four years, which increases to 85% for the remaining contract years. Time-block-wise availability necessitates a minimum project availability of 50% throughout the contract duration. In case of a power supply deficit, developers will be held responsible for paying 200% of the applicable tariff for that specific contract year, calculated annually or on a time-block basis. The power supply must include energy sourced from the storage system, provided that renewable sources are utilised for energy storage. The tariff is anticipated to be mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. The tariff for each year will be levelled based on a discounting factor of 7.7%. To mitigate technological risks and ensure timely commissioning, only established and operational technologies should be used for these projects. If incorporated, energy storage systems (ESS) may be part of the project or connected separately with a third party by the developer. Crucially, ESS power provided for this project must originate from renewable sources.