NEA, Nepal's state-owned power company, has issued a request for proposals to select independent power producers to build 100 MW grid connected photovoltaic capacity in 16 locations across the country.

The project size must be at least 1 MW. In some locations, the capacity may be between 10 MW and 30 MW. The tender is open to companies from any country. Interested developers must submit their bids by February 26, 2023.

The selected project will receive a 25 year power purchase agreement. In March, the National Energy Administration set the maximum price of PPA as 5.96 Nepalese Rupees (0.043 US dollars)/kWh. Since 2017, the utility company has signed a power purchase agreement with the developer at the price of NPR 7.30/kWh. However, if the price does not increase, they refuse to participate in the bidding.

After calculation, our executive committee meeting concluded that it is not feasible to recover the cost within 10 years by less than NRs 7.30 per unit, said Prakash Bikram Basnet, chairman of Nepal Solar Power Manufacturers Association. We also decided that our member companies would not participate in the bids invited by the National Energy Administration until our needs were addressed.

According to the tender notice, only developers offering prices equal to or lower than NPR 5.96/kWh are eligible to sell electricity to NEA after the development of the project. According to local media reports, the National Energy Administration does not approve of changing the rate. Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesman of NEA, said that the authorities set PPA rates according to global market trends.

Those who want to bid are welcome, he said. We did not force them to join the bidding. According to the data of the International Renewable Energy Agency, by the end of 2021, Nepal has installed 93 MW of solar installed capacity.Editor/Xing Wentao