CM approves APTRANSCO proposal of Rs 6.49 per unit to SPD

Hyderabad, July 10 : In a significant development, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has accorded approval for the proposal of APTRANSCO to give opportunity to all the solar power developers (SPD), even to those who have not participated in the recently concluded competitive bidding for 1000 MW, and to submit their consent & applications within 4 weeks, at Rs 6.49/- per unit as decided by Group of Ministers (GoM) earlier.

The decision came out in the light of the fact that some solar power developers who have not participated in the bidding process, also showed keen interest to supply solar power at Rs 6.49 per unit.

Disclosing the above details, M Sahoo, Prl. Secretary, Energy Dept. while reviewing the progress of solar power projects bidding with Suresh Chanda, CMD/APTRANSCO, P Ramesh, Joint MD/APTRANSCO, M Kamalakar Babu, VC&MD NREDCAP and senior officials, categorically said that Govt. is fully committed for encouragement & promotion of non-renewable energy and to put all out efforts to make AP as role model in solar power as a part of promotion of green energy. The latest decision of the Govt. will help the State to tap the solar power to the maximum extent.

Apart from encouraging the non-renewable energy, Govt. is putting all out efforts for enhancement of power generation in the State to bridge the gap between supply and demand and to meet the requirements of the consumers. The State Govt. had already announced a policy to promote solar power for captive use and third party sale in which the following incentives were announced the exemption of wheeling and transmission charges, cross subsidy surcharges, electricity duty in case of captive use/third party sale. Refund of VAT for all inputs required for Solar Power projects and Refund of stamp duty and registration charges for purchase of land.

It is pertinent to note that there was positive response for Govt. policy of encouraging solar power calling bids for setting up of 1000 MW solar power plants through competitive bidding by APTRANSCO. Earlier, 331 bids were qualified from the 184 bidders for 161 locations notified in the request for submission and finally 35 Nos. bidders with a total capacity of about 418 MW have accepted Solar Power Purchase price of Rs 6.49 per unit. INN