MEIL Green Power (Anantpur) Limited 50MW CSP

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In November 2010, MEIL Green Power Limited (MGPL), a subsidiary of Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited(MEIL),was awarded the license for setting up a 50MW solar thermal power project at Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh under the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase-I (batch-I) of the scheme. Under the JNNSM the total aggregated capacity of grid connected Solar Projects in Phase-1 was expected to be 1000 MW. The deployment of Solar PV and Solar Thermal projects would be in the ratio of 50:50. MGPL had acquired land for the project. The output from the project would be fed to the southern regional power grid of India. The 50 MW Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Plant(CSP) would use parabolic trough technology of US-based SkyFuel ("SkyTrough"). MGPL had contracted MEIL for the project EPC, to be assisted by SkyFuel. MGPL had taken the approval from Powergrid for interconnection with the nearest 132kV generation/pooling substation at Gooty. The JNNSM mission had designated NTPC’s Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) as the nodal agency for procurement of solar power. On 18th August 2010, NVVN invited RFQs from interested developers to develop 150 MW solar PV projects with a capacity of 5 MW each, and 500 MW solar thermal projects with a minimum capacity of 5 MW and maximum of 100 MW each. NVVN received 418 RFQ responses on September 24, 2010 from both PV and solar thermal project developers (343 applications for solar PV,55 for solar thermal projects, and 5 for combined thermal and PV projects). As the total capacity of the shortlisted projects were in excess of the approved capacity of 150 MW Solar PV Projects and 500 MW Solar Thermal Projects, bidders were required to submit proposals offering maximum discount on the CERC (Central Regulator) approved applicable tariff for grid connected solar power projects for FY 2010-11 - a reverse bidding auction process. The last date for the submission of proposal was November 16, 2010. For Solar Thermal projects, NVVN received 66 bids from project developers indicating discounts offered by each over CERC determined tariff of INR 15.31/kWh. Majority of the bids were below 300 paise. There were 17 bids which offered zero discount. Since, the target allocation for solar thermal projects was 500 MW, only the top 8 discounts were finally selected to set up solar power projects. The cutoff discount was 297paise. MEIL Green Power Limited (MGPL) won the project quoting a tariff of INR 11.31/kWh (a discount of 400 paise). In January 2011, MEIL Green Power Limited (MGPL) had entered into a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), which was the the nodal agency to purchase solar power generated by independent solar power producers, under JNNSM. JNNSM provided for a scheme of "bundling" relatively expensive solar power with cheaper power from the unallocated quota of the Government of India out of the capacity of the NTPC based coal stations.This cheaper bundled power would then be sold to state power distribution companies at the CERC regulated price. This would bring down the gap between the average cost of power and sales price of power of the state Discom. The total capacity of 50MW was also eligible for carbon credits. MGPL would pass on the gross benefits of CDM to the distribution licensee (NVVN) in the following manner - (a) 100% of the gross proceeds to be retained by MGPL in the 1st year after the date of COD, (b) in the 2nd year, the share of NVVN would be 10% which would be progressively increased by 10% every year till it reaches 50%, where after the proceeds would be shared equally by MGPL and NVVN. Transmission and/or wheeling charges would be paid by MGPL. Financial closure took place on 8th October 2012.The total project cost was US$ 134.7mn (INR 7200mn @53.44 INR/USD).The debt equity ratio for the project was 60/40. Financing comprised of a 15-year term loan of US$ 80.8mn (INR 4320mn) and sponsor equity of US$ 53.9mn (INR 2880mn). Th