Indian Bihar confirms tariff for solar power from Darbhanga-based floating plant

• A tariff of 4.15 rupees per kilowatt-hour for the power generated by the 2-megawatt floating photovoltaic station located in Darbhanga district has been passed by the Electricity Regulatory Commission of the state of Bihar.

It was two Indian state organizations (BREDA and BSPHCL) who petitioned for the above price. Initially, the agencies stated that over the current and following financial years solar power would be in scarce supply, while the year 2021/2022 would be rich of solar power. But later the amendment was submitted predicting insufficient power during the whole period 2019/2022. 

According to the petition, electricity generated by Darbhanga-based plant is to be sold to SBPDCL and NBPDCL. 

However, the Commission noted that not all the terms of request for proposal corresponded to the draft power purchase agreement. The agreement should be drafted in accordance with MoP’s guidance for the corresponding process of competitive bidding. 

Besides, BREDA and BSPHCL insisted that the FIT (4.17 rupees per kilowatt-hour) was higher than the tariff approved by the Commission. BERC objected that the above feed-in tariff was only valid for ground mount solar and did not apply to the systems installed on water surface.