Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines opened a new chapter to enhance transparency in power transmission sector of the country by launching the ‘TARANG’ Mobile App, ‘e-Trans’ & ‘DEEP’ e-bidding web portals, developed by Rural Electrification Corporation Transmission Projects Company Limited (RECTPCL), a subsidiary of REC Ltd, in New Delhi today.
The Minister informed that with the perspective of good governance, and keeping in line with the “Digital India” initiative of Government of India, ‘TARANG’ (Transmission App for Real Time Monitoring & Growth) Mobile App & Web Portal has been developed by RECTPCL, under the guidance of Ministry of Power. Introduction of the electronic platform shall enhance ease, accountability & transparency and would boost confidence of investors in power transmission sector. Better price discovery shall ultimately benefit the power consumers in India.
Addressing the media during the event, Shri Goyal informed that TARANG is a powerful monitoring tool that tracks upcoming transmission projects and monitor the progress of Inter-State & Intra-State transmission systems in the country, being developed through Regulated tariff mechanism as well as Tariff Based Competitive Bidding(TBCB) route.
TARANG shall also include status of stalled/delayed transmission systems in country which would enable the stakeholders viz. Ministry of Power, State Governments, all private sector transmission developers and PSUs like Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., for expeditious completion of such projects.
The Minister added that Green Energy Corridors, an important component of our renewable energy mission, would also be monitored through TARANG and help to meet our ambitious targets in same on time. The web portal can be accessed at www.tarang.website.
Apart from Tarang, Shri Goyal unveiled the ‘e-Trans’ web platform for e-bidding and e-reverse auction for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) in transmission projects. The Minister informed that till date transmission sector providers have been participating in transmission bids through manual mode. With e-Trans, the interface will be electronic. Further, he added that on the lines of coal sector, reverse auction is being introduced in transmission sector to facilitate better price discovery in transmission projects.
The Minister also launched the ‘DEEP (Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price) e-Bidding’ portal for medium term (1-5 years) purchase of power, on the occasion. He informed that the Portal will provide a common e-bidding platform with e-reverse auction facility to facilitate nation-wide power procurement through a wider network so as to bring uniformity and transparency in the process of power procurement.
Shri Goyal informed that by the introduction of e-Bidding and e-reverse auction process for medium term (1-5 years), the time span of the complete bidding process and the cost of procurement of power is expected to be reduced substantially, thereby significantly benefiting the ultimate consumers. The Minister added that the system of e-reverse auction is being introduced with concept of L-1 matching. The provision of multiple progressive bidding based on the fuel choice has also been incorporated in the system.
To give a perspective of the progress made so far, it may be noted that e-bidding portal was launched on 12.04.2016 for procurement of short term power by DISCOMs. Thereafter 8 States viz., Uttarakhand, Kerala, Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, Assam, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, along with other private DISCOMS including Torrent Power, NPCL etc., have conducted e-bidding and around 18000 MW has been requisitioned through the DEEP portal.
As a result of the transparent procurement process, these States have obtained substantially lower rates of power for their short term procurement i.e. UPCL(Description: Rupee Symbol2.59), KSEBL(Description: Rupee Symbol3.14),Torrent Power Limited (Description: Rupee Symbol2.95), JBVNL (Description: Rupee Symbol2.89), BSPHCL (Description: Rupee Symbol2.57), PSPCL (Description: Rupee Symbol 3.6), APDCL-Renewable Energy (non-Solar) (Description: Rupee Symbol4.70) and CSPDCL (Description: Rupee Symbol3.13), WBSEDCL (Description: Rupee Symbol 2.29), inter alia.
The Portal is based on the Guidelines for Medium Term procurement of Power which was notified by Government of India, in 2014 and further amended on May 2015. In order to facilitate the use of portal and to bring clarity in the system necessary amendments will be brought in the guidelines through addendum at the earliest.
Shri Goyal also informed that the scope of this portal shall be further expanded soon to cover medium term and long term procurement of power.
