WBSEDCL Invite Bids for Setting Up 205 EV Charging Stations
The West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL) has launched an initiative to promote the Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure in the state. A press release by WBSEDCL has invited expressions of interest for setting up electric vehicle charging infrastructure in public-private partnership (PPP). The West Bengal government backed company had clarified that it is seeking for bids to build 205 charging or battery-swapping stations for different types of vehicles.
WBSEDCL also said that the charging stations will be built on its land but those bidding for a share of revenue have to bear the installation and managing costs.
"In this tranche of the deal, we will provide land for the installation of 205 EV charging/swapping stations in our sub-stations. The investment, operation and maintenance will be done by private concessionaires. The floor value of revenue share for the auction is INR 1 per unit of electricity," the company said.
The biding will be done for a number of sites in upcoming times and bidder offering highest revenue share will get the contract for the site. Initial contract period for charging station would be of ten year and can be extended by further permissions. The plan is to set 205 stations, 40 along national highways and the remaining 165 elsewhere. Electricity tariff rates for EV charging station has been set at INR 6.98 per unit by the state power sector regulator - West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC).
Like several other states, West Bengal also made a detailed roadmap for achieving e-mobility targets. The government made its EV policy with a target to rank in top three states, in terms of electric mobility penetration, by the end of 2024. A target of having one million vehicle in all segment combined has also been set by the government. The policy also targets setting up one lakh public and semi public charging stations in the states during the policy implementation period. A vehicle to public charging station ration of 8 will me tried to achieve and maintained.
Not only West Bengal Government but the Central government is also implementing schemes to speed up the adoption of e-vehicles in various segments. Lucrative incentives are being provided to consumers as well as others in the ecosystem to encourage the EV production, sales and adoption in the country.
The Ministry of Power says that at least one charging station must be installed in a grid of 3 km2 and on the distance to 25 Km in terms of highways. Various oil companies have come up to set up charging station in the country. A total of 22,000 EV charging stations will be installed from which 10,000 will be installed by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., 7,000 by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), and the rest of 5,000 will be installed by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL). IOCL has already installed 439 EV charging stations and plans to install another 2,000 EV charging stations over the next year. BPCL has installed 52 charging stations, while HPCL has installed 382 charging stations.
