A top ministerial panel headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony is likely to meet again in the first week of August to finalise fresh bidding norms for ultra mega power projects.

“The Empowered Group of Ministers will meet in the first week of next month for finalising the new standard bidding documents for UMPPs,” a Power Ministry official said.

UMPPs are coal-based generation projects with an average capacity of 4,000 MW. The new bidding norms will apply to Case-II projects.

Case-I projects are where developers have the choice to decide on location, fuel and technology to be used. In Case-II, the location of the project and fuel to be used are already decided before the start of competitive bidding.

The decision is expected to speed up the process of inviting bids for proposed UMPPs in Chhattisgarh (Sarguja), Odisha (Bedabahal) and Tamil Nadu (Cheyyur). The bidding process is being revised to mitigate the risk for power producers from escalation of coal prices.

The Government has so far allotted four UMPPs. The first at Mundra in Gujarat was awarded to Tata Power, which said in March that it had commissioned the plant.

Reliance Power bagged the others — Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand).

The new standard bidding documents (SBDs) for Case-I projects are being drafted by the Power Ministry.

Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will hold inter-ministerial consultations on the norms for Case-I after which the Case-I SBDs will be taken to an advisory group and then will go to the EGoM for final approval.

The advisory group comprises power sector bigwigs including Cyrus Mistry (Tata Power), Anil Ambani (Reliance Power) and G.M. Rao (GMR Group).

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