Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has invited proposals to buy 100 MW of solar energy from developers through an open competition.
The NEA, the state-owned sole power distributor, is preparing to sign the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at Rs 7.30 per unit and has invited proposals to accept a maximum rate of Rs 5.94 per unit.
The NEA invited tenders for solar through an open competition in June 2016, with a maximum rate of Rs 9.61 PPA per unit.
A procedure related to the development of grid-connected systems as an alternative electric energy source was approved by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation on February 8, 2018, to call for an application to sell power up to 61 MW.
After fixing Rs 7.30 per unit in 2018, that process was canceled, and some of the projects that applied had constructed solar projects based on the new PPA rate. When the tender was invited for the second time, the PPA rate per unit was lower than the earlier offer by Rs 3.67 per unit.
Kulman Ghising, Managing Director of the NEA, said the tender has been invited by setting the maximum PPA rate of Rs 5.94 through open competition.
“At present, those who have taken a survey license from the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) or those who want to develop new projects can bid. This time we have invited this proposal to buy 100 megawatts giving 90 days for registering applications,” Ghising added.
The DoED states that solar projects with 2550 MW combined capacity are in different stages from survey application and survey license issues to construction.
The NEA has done PPA for 53 MW of solar energy so far while a total of 39 MW has been produced. Ten months ago, the NEA Steering Committee decided to do the PPA through open competition to buy energy produced from the solar plant.
