9 Plants Emerged as Preferred Bidders and Allocated 7.62 MMSCMD e-bid RLNG

The Government is delighted to announce the revival of 9 stranded gas based power generation plants with an installed capacity of 5942 MW which have successfully bid through a transparent and competitive reverse e-auction process. These plants would generate 6.79 billion units of electricity which will be supplied at or below Rs 4.70 per unit to the purchaser Discoms during the period from1st April 2016 to 30th September 2016. The auction process successfully concluded on March 20, 2016 wherein 9 plants emerged as preferred bidders and were allocated 7.62 MMSCMD e-bid RLNG.

Previously an e-auction was held on March 15, 2016, wherein bidders participated in reverse e bidding process with Per unit PSDF ceiling price of Rs 0.41/unit. However, the Bidders did not get an opportunity to bid below Rs. 0.00 (Rupees zero only) per Unit, as option for the same was not built in. In light of the fact that the Bidders were not provided such an opportunity and the sufficient competition might not have been generated, a re–auction was conducted.

The re-auction resulted in aggressive negative bidding with the lowest bid at RS 0.03 per unit. As a result there is estimated savings of Rs 18.29 crore to Government’s Power System Development Fund.

The present reverse e-auction for the Stranded Gas based Plants is the third phase of auctions conducted under Scheme for Utilization of Stranded Gas Based Generation Capacity.

The grid connected gas based power generation capacity in the country is 24,150 MW. Of this, a capacity of 14,305 MW had no supply of domestic gas. These comprise 29 plants which were eligible to participate in the auction process held today. 11 plants with a cumulative installed capacity of 6626 MW participated in the bidding for Phase III.

The successful bidders include power plants in Southern region. The generation from these plants would improve the power availability in the Southern grid, mitigating to a large extent the shortage of availability and constraint of evacuating the power to the Southern region from other regions.

Government of India is committed to the revival of such stranded power plants as a measure to ensure 24X7 power to all.

Catherine