Centre to review tendering process for
supercritical power plant equipment
The Union Government is planning to revise the
tendering process for supercritical power plant
equipment to allow companies to bid separately for
boilers and turbines. The move is likely to get more
participation from global equipment
manufacturers. If the proposal gets notified it will
lead to winning bidders setting up manufacturing
for large equipment facilities. Under the proposed
changes, the tender for boiler package will be split
between two bidders and that for the turbinegenerator
package among three bidders. While the
lowest bidder (R1) in the boiler package will get
three projects, the second-lowest bidder (R2) will
get two projects after matching price quoted by R1.
The number of units for each bidder will be either
seven and four or six and five. The last bidder will
get only one project.
Gujarat Solar Power Policy: 2009
The Gujarat Government's Solar Power Policy,
2009 aims at tapping the vast potential for solar
energy in the state and transforming it into an
'integrated solar generation hub' of India. Under
the new policy, the state government promises a
slew of incentives to prospective developers who
may want to set up solar power projects in the state.
The developers will be allowed to sell for 25 years
energy generated from their projects to licensee
distributors in the state under a Power Purchase
Agreement (PPA) to be specified by the Gujarat
Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL). However, the
benefits of this policy will not be available to
projects set up under the Union Ministry for
Natural and Renewable Energy's incentive scheme
for solar power generation.
Some of the other features of the policy:
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- The government has fixed a tariff of Rs 13
per unit for the first 12 years for the sale of
energy by those photovoltaic solar projects
commissioned before 31 Dec 2010, and Rs
3 per unit for the remaining 13 years.
- The tariff fixed for thermal projects
commissioned before 31 Mar 2014 is Rs 9
per unit for the first 12 years, and Rs 3 per
unit for the remaining 13 years.
- Exemption from the payment of duty will
be given for electricity generated from solar
power generators (SPGs) used for selfconsumption,
or sold to the third party or distribution licensees.
- The distribution of electricity generated
from the SPGs to desired locations for selfuse
within the state will be allowed at a
charge of two per cent of the energy fed to
the grid.
- A maximum of 500 MW SPG will be
allowed for installation during the operative
period (upto 31 Mar 2014) of the solar
power policy. The minimum project capacity
of an SPG, in the case of solar photovoltaic
and solar thermal will be five MW each.
- The policy envisages providing clean
development mechanism (CDM) benefits
to solar power project developers. However,
they will have to pass on 50 per cent of the
gross CDM benefits to the licensee
distributors with whom a PPA is signed.
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SEZs likely to get service tax exemption
The Union Government has reportedly sought the
Election Commission's (EC) approval for
permitting service tax exemption to units in SEZs
for services availed within these zones. The
proposal will need clearance from the EC before it
can be announced as providing tax exemption to
units and developers amounts to direct benefit and
could violate the model code of conduct in place,
ahead of the forthcoming general elections. The
service tax exemption will improve the cash flow of
units, as there will be no cash outgo. In case of
refunds, they will have to pay the entire service tax
and get it refunded after several months.
Developers seek more time to start SEZ
projects
The Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZs which has
stopped meeting because of the model code of
conduct, has received applications from 50
developers seeking extension for their SEZ
projects. The BoA is therefore considering giving
more time to cash-strapped developers of SEZ
projects beyond the three-year deadline to start
work so that their projects do not lapse. The
current SEZ rules allow developers up to three
years to start work on their projects after receiving
formal approvals. If the developers were not able
to show any sign of activity in the zones within this
period, the approvals would lapse. Once approvals
lapse, the developers need to seek fresh approvals.
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