Union Power Secretary, P Uma Shankar informed reporters that his ministry almost finalised the bidding documentfor power projectsand it would be ready in a month after the draft is vetted by legal team.
 
 The new bidding normswould be applicable for power projects to be put out on auction under the 12 th Five-Year Plan period. 
   
 Shankar said most concerns related to availability of indigenous coal and price fluctuations have been addressed through this document. The new norms would be applicable prospectively to projects based on domestic coal and no changes have been made for units fired by imported fuel.
 
 This has now opened up the route to bid for ultra mega power projects (UMPP) in Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh.
 
 According to the new provisions, norms would differ based on the source of coal. This means a power project based on linkage coal would be different from a unit attached to a captive mine.
 
 The new bidding norms would share the risk between developer and the procurer. The developer of the project would be able to mitigate any losses arising out of non-availability or fluctuations in the price of coal.
 Bidding documents