Torrent Power emerges as lowest bidder for power supply contract

According to two sources, Torrent Power has beaten Reliance Industries to the lowest bid for the supply of 1,100 megawatts of gas-based power sought by the Indian government to meet expected record demand this summer. According to the sources, Torrent Power quoted 13.70 rupees per unit price for supply of 770 megawatts each for 45 days in April and May from two of its gas-based projects in the western state of Gujarat. Gama Infraprop of Uttarakhand quoted 14.9 rupees per unit, while RIL quoted 20.5 rupees per unit for the supply of 1010 megawatts, they said on condition of anonymity because the contracts had not yet been awarded. The government is likely to award contracts to Torrent Power for 1,100 megawatts, one of the officials said. NTPC, Reliance Industries, and Torrent Power did not respond to Reuters' request for comment right away. NVVN, the power trading arm of India's largest power producer NTPC Ltd, conducted the bidding. On the direction of the power ministry, NVVN Ltd invited bids for a 5,000-megawatt power supply from gas-fired power plants. According to the bid documents, NVVN will purchase power from the winning bidder from April 10 to May 16, 2023. To increase power availability, the company will sell the power on the spot market. The federal power ministry will bridge the under-recovery through its Power System Development Fund (PSDF). India expects its maximum demand to peak at 230-gigawatts this year and is taking various measures to avert power cuts. The government has brought forward maintenance at some coal-fired power plants and secured extra NTPC gas-fired capacity. However, about 24-gigawatts of its gas-based power generation capacity remains underutilised due to a lack of fuel. Also Read Second Hooghly bridge road undergoes its first renovation NHAI starts work on Shimla Mataur NH project