Maharashtra has recently called for short-term power purchase tenders where JSW Energy, KSK Energy, CESC and JP Nigrie agreed to supply power to the state in the October-December period.
Maharashtra, the highest power consuming state in the country, is set to face the rising electricity requirement with adequate power purchase agreements (PPAs) and rising renewable energy capacity, a senior state power ministry official said. “We have PPAs tied up with 28,000 MW of power plants and 7,000 MW of additional bilateral arrangements,” Vishwas Pathak, director, Maharashtra State Electricity Board, told FE. The state’s power demand had touched an all-time high of 24,851 MW in October.
Though Maharashtra has become largely load-shedding free, there were a few instances of power cuts in October because the sudden spurt for 4,000 MW had arrived abruptly and the state was not given ample time to prepare for the demand surge, Pathak added. There was a deficit of 705 MW during the peak demand period in the state. Maharashtra had to purchase 1.7 billion units of electricity from the spot market in October, when the average power price in the Indian Electricity Exchange had risen to Rs 5.94/unit. Energy demand in Maharashtra had increased by 42% year-on-year in October.
The insulate from the vagaries of spot power prices, Maharashtra has recently called for short-term power purchase tenders where JSW Energy, KSK Energy, CESC and JP Nigrie agreed to supply power to the state in the October-December period.
Pathak pointed that the rise in renewable generation capacity would also help it address rising power demand. Maharashtra has invited tenders for setting up 1,000 MW of solar plants across the state, where power bidders have to quote tariffs below Rs 2.80/unit. The installed solar-generation capacity of Maharashtra in about 6,100 MW and another 1,300 MW are already under construction. The state produces about 6% of solar-based electricity of the country.
Source: financialexpress
