The opening of price bids for the two ultra mega power projects at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Mundra in Gujarat on December 18 may come as a wake up call for power producers, including power giant, NTPC.

Industry sources revealed out of the 10 tariff bids received for the 4,000 mw pit-head coal fired Sasan project, three or four are actually expected to be less than Rs 1.50 a unit. NTPC's generation tariff from its latest coal based project stands close to Rs 2 per unit.

The bid of the NTPC-BHEL consortium in all probability is expected to be between Rs 1.50 and Rs 1.60 a unit, a source said. NTPC has bid only for Sasan and has stayed away from bidding for the Mundra project.

In case of Mundra power project, which is based on imported coal, the winning bid is expected to quote a tariff ranging between Rs 2.50 and Rs 2.70 a unit. As against this, the recent price discovery for putting up a imported coal-based power project (upto 2,000 mw) in Gujarat through the competitive bidding route stood in between Rs 3.40 and Rs 3.70 a unit.

Bidders have been asked to submit a 25 year levelised tariff for these two projects. Bidders have quoted a year wise tariff, which will then be levelised based on the discounted rate specified in the bid document. This discounted rate has been specified as 10.61 per cent in case of ultra mega power projects.

Significantly, the tariff discovered through this route may also provide the benchmark for awarding the 8-10 supercritical sets to BHEL. In order to facilitate, smooth transfer of the technology for manufacturing super-critical boilers in the country, the government has proposed awarding 8-10 super-critical sets to BHEL through the negotiated route. Alstom Power of France is BHEL's technical partner for manufacturing these super-critical boilers.

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