KSEB is focusing on medium-term power procurement to handle peak demand

To combat an unexpected power crisis during the monsoon season, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is now looking at a medium-term power purchase agreement to secure 300 MW to meet peak demand for the period from January 2027 to December 2031. The power utility has approached the State Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking approval to restructure the bid evaluation methodology for evaluating power between bid documents and procurement requests for a meeting between tender documents 06 pm midnight.

The revised methodology “ensures a fair comparison between conventional generators, renewable energy projects, renewable energy storage projects and commercial licensees and facilitates the identification of the bidder offering the lowest effective procurement cost to KSEB,” KSEB said in its petition.

In 2023, the Commission approved a bid to procure 300 MW of continuous (RTC) power on a medium-term basis for the period from February 2024 to June 2026 on a Finance, Own and Operate (FOO) basis. Although tenders were issued, they were eventually canceled because the unit prices quoted by the bidders were high. KSEB instead decided to go ahead with long-term power purchase under the center’s SHAKTI policy (short for Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India). But these didn’t work either.

In December 2025, KSEB reconsidered the 300 MW FOO proposal and called for tenders in March 2026. In May, the tender schedules were revised to include the revised methodology. The revision “encourages transparency, competitive neutrality and proper pricing and consumer interest and is therefore necessary for the successful completion of the ongoing competitive bidding process,” KSEB said.

Published – 8 Jul 2026 22:34 IST